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THE

TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE:

VII. WED IN CONNECTION WITH THE WHOLE SERIES OF

THE DIVINE DISPENSATIONS.

PRINTED BY MURRAY AND GIBB,
FOR

T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH.

LONDON, HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.

DUBLIN, JOHN ROBERTSON AND CO.

NEW YORK, SCRIBNER AND CO.

#■

THE

TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE:

VIEWED IN CONNECTION WITH THE WHOLE SEED

THE DIVINE DISPENSATIONS.

PATRICK FAIRBAIRN, D.D.,

rifl.NCirAL, AND PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY, FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, GLASGOW.

in vetirt Testamento novum latet, et in novo vetits patet,—

August. Quv€ST. in Ex. lxxiu.

XT// E D / T / O X.

VOL. I.

l*KL&>Ffcu<e&.

■

EDINBURG II :
T. & T. CLARK, 38, GEOEGE STEEET.

MItCCCLXXVI.

./<W

i ■

PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

The issue of a Fourth Edition of the following Treatise, how-
ever gratifying in one respect, is in another not unaccompanied
with a measure of regret. This arises from the number of
alterations which it has been found necessary to introduce into
it, and which will naturally prove of injurious consequence to
the Editions that have preceded. But, in truth, no alternative
was left to me, if the work was to keep pace with the age, and
maintain relatively the place it occupied in the earlier stages of
its existence. When I first gave to the public the fruit of my
investigations upon the subject of Scripture Typology, not only
was there great diversity of opinion among theologians respecting
its fundamental principles, but many specific topics connected
with it were only beginning to receive the benefit of modern
research and independent inquiry. It is much otherwise now.
Even during the last ten years, since the Second Edition was
published, from which the Third did not materially differ,
productions, in very considerable number and variety, have
appeared, especially on the Continent, in which certain portions
of the field have been subjected to careful examination — not
(infrequently have become the occasion of earnest controversy ;
and to have sent forth another Edition of this Treatise, without
regard being had to the fresh discussions that have taken place,
would only have been to leave it in a state of imperfect adapta-
tion to the present times.

G PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

It is proper to mention, however, that the alterations in
question have respect to the literature of the subject and modes
of explanation on particular points, rather than to the views
and principles which had been unfolded in connection with its
main features. These have undergone no material alteration ;
indeed, with the exception of a few minor things, which it is
unnecessary to particularize, they remain much as they were
in the Second and Third Editions. The progress of discussion,
however, with its varying tides of opinion, naturally called for
an extension of the historical review in the introductory chapter,
which has been coupled with a slight abridgment in some of
its earlier details, and in the later with a softening of the con-
troversial tone, which seemed occasionally to possess too keen
an edge. The views, also, which in certain influential quarters
have of late been given forth respecting the relation of God's
work in creation to the destined incarnation of the Son, ap-
peared to render the introduction of a new chapter almost
indispensable, that the subject, with reference more especially
to its typological bearing, might receive the consideration that
was due to it. This forms Chapter Fourth of the First Volume.
In consequence of these additions, and the employment of a
somewhat larger type for the Notes and Appendices, the Volume
has been enlarged to the extent of about fifty pages.

The alterations in the Second Volume, though more nume-
rous, are not quite so extensive in respect to quantity of matter ;
and being accompanied with more of compression where this
was practicable, they have not added very materially to the
entire bulk of the Volume. They occur most frequently in the
portions which treat of the institutions and offerings of the
Mosaic economy, on which there has recently been much discus-
sion ; and the topics handled in one or two of the Appendices,

PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. <

arc here for the first time formally considered. On the whole,
I trust it will be found that the work has been, both in form
and substance, considerably improved ; and having now again
(probably for the last time) traversed the field with some care,
and expressed what may be considered my matured views
on the topics embraced in it, I leave the fruit of my labours
to the candid consideration of others, and commend it anew
to the blessing of Him whose word it seeks to explain and
vindicate.

As regards the general plan pursued in the investigation of
the subject, I have only in substance to repeat what was said in
previous Editions. It might, no doubt, have been practicable to
narrow at various points the field of discussion, and especially
to abridge the space devoted to the consideration of the Law in
Volume Second (which some have thought disproportionate), if
the object had been simply to extract from the earlier dispensa-
tions such portions as more peculiarly possess a typical charac-
ter. But to have treated the typical in such an isolated manner,
would have conduced little either to the elucidation of the sub-
ject itself, or to the satisfaction of thoughtful inquirers. The
Typology of the Old Testament touches at every point on its
religion and worship. It is part of a complicated system of
truth and duty ; and it is impossible to attain to a correct dis-
cernment and due appreciation of the several parts, without
contemplating them in the relation they bear both to each other
and to the whole. Hence the professed aim of the work is to
view the Typology of Scripture, not by itself, but in connection
with the entire series of the divine dispensations.

It is possible some may think that there is an occasional
extreme on the other side, and that less has been said than
might justly have been expected on certain controverted topics,

8 PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

which are ever rising afresh into notice, and which find, if not
their root, at least a considerable part of their support, in the
view that is taken of certain things pertaining to the institutions
of former times. The proper aim, however, of a work of this
sort is hermeneutical and expository, rather than controversial.
It may, and indeed ought, to lay the foundation for a legitimate
use of Old Testament materials, and thereby contribute to the
settlement of various important questions belonging to Christian
times ; but the actual application of the materials to the diver-
sified phases of polemical discussion, belongs to other depart-
ments of theology. In certain cases the application is so natu-
ral and obvious, that it could not fitly be avoided ; but even in
these it had been improper to go beyond comparatively narrow
limits; and if I have not erred by excess, I scarcely think
judicious critics will consider me to have done so by defect.

Still more limited is the relation in which the inquiry
pursued in a work like the present stands to the much agitated
question respecting the historical verity of the earlier books of
Scripture, and in particular to the authenticity and truthfulness
of the books of Moses. Incidentally not a few opportunities
have occurred of noticing, and to some extent repelling, the
objections that have been thrown out respecting some of the
statements contained in them. But, as a rule, it was necessary
to take for granted the historical truthfulness of the sacred
records ; for, apart from the reality and divine character of the
transactions therein related, Typology in the proper sense has
no foundation to stand upon. The service which investiga-
tions of this kind, when rightly pursued, are fitted to render
to the inspiration and authority of Scripture, is of a less formal
description, and relates to points of agreement, of a somewhat
veiled and hidden nature, between one part of the divine

PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION'. 9

• nomy and another. To obtain a clear and comprehensive
view of these, one must stand, as it were, within the sacred
edifice of God's revelation, and survey with an attentive eye its
interior harmony and proportions. They who do so will cer-
tainly find in the careful study of the Typology of Scripture
many valuable confirmations to their faith. Evidences of the
Btrictly supernatural character of the plan it discloses will press
themselves on their notice, such as altogether escape the obser-
vation of more superficial inquirers ; and to them such evidences
will be the more convincing and satisfactory, that it is only
through patient research they come to be perceived in their
proper variety and fulness. If one may have, as Dean Milman
justly states,1 ' great faith in internal evidence, which rests on
broad and patent facts, — on laws, for instance, which belong to
a peculiar age and state of society, and which there can be no
conceivable reason for imamnirio; in later times, and during the
prevalence of other manners, and for ascribing them to an
ancient people,' — not less may such faith be called forth and
strengthened by that evidence, which arises from the perception
of a profound harmony of principle and nicely adjusted rela-
tions, preserved amid the endless diversities of form and method
naturally incident to a scheme of progressive development.

P. F.
Glasgow, 2d November 1863.

1 Hist, oj Jews, i. p. V6o, 3d ed.

PREFATORY NOTE TO FIFTH EDITION.

Mention has been made in the fore^oincr Preface of the care-
ful revision which this Treatise underwent previous to tin-
issuing of the Fourth Edition, and of the nature of the changes
then introduced. These were such as to render unnecessary
any further alterations of moment on my part; and the present
Edition differs from its immediate predecessor in little more
than some occasional modes of expression, and the introduction
of a few references of a more recent kind.

My Volume of Lectures on the Revelation of Laio in Scrip-
ture has appeared since the publication of the last Edition ; and
if respect were had to the line of investigation pursued in that
Volume, I might now have abbreviated the portions relating
to the Law in the Second Volume of the Typology. But the
mode of discussion adopted in the Lectures was framed with
a view to the portions in question continuing to retain their
original place ; as indeed, in a Treatise bearing so much on
the connection between the Old and the New Testament dis-
pensations, they could not properly be dispensed with. They
remain, therefore, as they were ; while in the Volume of Lec-
tures many points connected with the subject of Law have \>
handled, which are either wholly omitted or very briefly touched
on here.

12 PREFATORY NOTE TO FIFTH EDITION.

I have only further to request my readers to bear in mind
that much of the historical review at the outset, and several of
the allusions afterwards, may be said to date from the fourth
decade of the present century. If the phases of opinion exhibited
in them should appear at times to be somewhat antiquated, it
is still of importance that the previous existence or prevalence
of them should be brought under consideration.

Glasgow, February 1870.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST.

BOOK FIRST.

INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF TYPICAL INTERPRETATION, WITH A VIEW

< IIIIFLY TO THE DETERMINATION OF THE REAL NATURE AND DESIGN OF

TYPES, AND THE EXTENT TO WHICH THEY ENTERED INTO GOD'S EARLIER

DISPENSATIONS.

PAGE

CHAPTER I.

Historical and Critical Survey of the past and present state of

Theological opinion on the subject, . . . . 1"

CHAPTER II.

The proper Nature and Province of Typology — 1. Scriptural use
of the word Type — comparison of this with the Theological —
distinctive characteristics of a Typical relationship, viewed with
respect to the religious institutions of the Old Testament, . 64

CHAPTER III.

The proper Nature and Province of Typology — 2. The historical
characters and transactions of the Old Testament, viewed as
amplifying the distinctive characters of a Typical relation-
ship— Typical forms in nature — necessity of the Typical as a
pi cparation for the fulness of times, .... 87

CHAPTER IV.

The proper Nat nit and Province of Theology — 3. God's work in
creation, how related to the incarnation and kingdom of Chi i t. 11'

14 CONTEXTS.

CHAPTER V.

PAGE

Prophetical Types, or the combination of Type with Prophecy—
alleged double sense of Prophecy, .... 137

CHAPTER VI.

The interpretation of particular Types — specific principles and

directions, ..... . 175

CHAPTER VII.

The place due to the subject of Typology as a branch of Theo-
logical study, and the advantages arising from its proper
cultivation, ....... 206

BOOK SECOND.

THE DISPENSATION OF PRIMEVAL AND PATRIARCHAL TIMES.

Preliminary Remarks, .... 230

CHAPTER I.

The Divine truths embodied in the historical transactions on

which the first symbolical Religion for fallen man was based, 239

CHAPTER II.
The Tree of Life, 251

CHAPTER III.
The Cherubim (and the Flaming Sword), ... 259

CHAPTER IV
Sacrificial Worship, . . t 287

CHAPTER V.
The Marriage Relation and the Sabbatical Institution, . . 304

CONTEXTS. 15

PAGli

OHAPTEB VI.

Typical things in history during the progress of the first Dispen-
sation, ....... 314

Sect. 1. The Seed of Promise— Abel, Enoch, . . 815

Sect. 2. Noah and the Deluge, . . • B28

Sect. 3.* The New World and its Inheritors — the Men of

Faith, 331

Sect. 4. The change in the Divine Call from the general to

the particular — Shem, Abraham, . . 340

Sect. 5. The subjects and channels of blessing — Abraham and

Isaac, Jacob and the twelve Patriarchs, . . 352

Sect. G. The Inheritance destined for the Heirs of Blessing, . 389

APPENDIX A.
The Old Testament in the New—

I. The Historical and Didactic portions, . . . 427

II. Prophecies referred to by Christ, .... 434

III. The deeper principles involved in Christ's use of the Old

Testament, ...... 440

IV. The applications made by the Evangelists of Old Testa-

ment Prophecies, . . . • • l J s

V. AppUcations in the writings of the Apostle Paul, • 456

VI. The applications made in the Epistle to the Hebrews, . 4G4

APPENDIX B.
The doctrine of a Future State, . . • • 4< 1

1 6 CONTENTS.

PAOF.

APPENDIX C
On Sacrificial Worship, ...... 491

APPENDIX D.

Does the original relation of the seed of Abraham to the land of
Canaan afford any ground for expecting their final return to

APPENDIX E.

The relation of Canaan to the state of final rest, . . 501

ERRATA.
P. 167, line 29, also p. 292, note, first line, for Davidson read Davison.
P. 300, bottom, for Appendix D, read Appendix C.

THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

BOOK FIEST.

[BY INTO THE riMNCirLES OF TYPICAL INTERPRETATION, WITH A VIEW
CHIEFLY TO THE DETERMINATION OF THE REAL NATURE AND DESIGN* OF
TYPES, AND THE EXTENT TO WHICH THEY ENTERED INTO GOD'S EARLIER
PENSATIONS.

CHAPTER FIRST.

HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL SURVEY OF THE PAST AND PRESENT
STATE OF THEOLOGICAL OPINION ON THE SUBJECT.

The Typology of Scripture has been one of the most neglected
departments of theological science. It has never altogether
escaped from the region of doubt and uncertainty; and some
still regard it as a field incapable, from its very nature, of being
satisfactorily explored, or cultivated so as to yield any sure and
appreciable results. Hence it is not unusual to find those who
otherwise are agreed in their views of divine truth, and in the

neral principles of biblical interpretation, differing materially
in the estimate they have formed of the Typology of Scripture.
Where one hesitates, another is full of confidence; and the
landmarks that are set up to-day are again shifted to-morrow.
With such various and contradictory sentiments prevailing on
the Bubject, it is necessary, in the first instance, to take an
historical and critical survey of the field, that from the careful
revision of what has been done in the past, we may the more

VOL. I. B

18 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

readily perceive what still remains to be accomplished, in
order that we may arrive at a well-grounded and scriptural
Typology.

I. We naturally begin with the Christian Fathers. But
their typological views were of a somewhat indeterminate kind,
and are rather to be inferred from the use of occasional
examples, than to be found in any systematic principles of in-
terpretation. Some exception might, perhaps, be made in favour
of Origen. And yet with such vagueness and dubiety has he
expressed himself regarding the interpretation of Old Testament
Scripture, that by some he has been understood to hold, that
there is a fourfold, by others a threefold, and by others again
only a twofold sense, in the sacred text. The truth appears to
be, that while he advocated usually a threefold use or appli-
cation of Scripture, he regarded it as susceptible of only a two-
fold sense. In respect, however, to his mode of extracting and
dealing with the typical matter of bygone dispensations, he did
not essentially differ from that generally followed by the great
majority of the Greek Fathers. But before stating how this
bore on the subject now under consideration, it w7ill be necessary
to point out a distinction too often lost sight of, both in earlier
and in later times, between allegorical and typical interpreta-
tions, properly so called. These have been very commonly con-
founded together, as if they were essentially one in principle,
and differed only in the extent to which the principle may be
carried. There is, however, a specific difference between the
two, which it is not very difficult to apprehend, and which it is
of some importance to keep in mind, when considering the
interpretations of patristic writers.

An allegory is a narrative, either expressly feigned for the
purpose, or — if describing facts which really took place — de-
scribing them only for the purpose of representing certain
higher truths or principles than the narrative, in its literal
aspect, whether real or fictitious, could possibly have taught.
The ostensible representation, therefore, if not invented, is at
least used, simply as a cover for the higher sense, which may
refer to things ever so remote from those immediately described,
if only the corresponding relations are preserved. So that alle-

THE VIEWS OF THE FATHERS. 19

gorical interpretations of Scripture properly comprehend the
two following cases, and these only : 1. When the scriptural
representation is actually held to have had no foundation in
fact — to be a mere myth, or fabulous description, invented for
the sole purpose of exhibiting the mysteries of divine truth; or,
2. When the representation, even if wearing the appearance of

a real transaction, is considered incapable as it stands of yielding
any adequate or satisfactory sense, and is consequently em-
ployed, precisely as if it had been fabulous, to convey some
meaning of a quite diverse and higher kind. The difference
between allegorical interpretations, in either of these senses,
and those which are properly called typical, cannot be fully
exhibited till we have ascertained the exact nature and design
of a type. It will be enough meanwhile to say, that typical
interpretations of Scripture differ from allegorical ones of the
first or fabulous kind, in that they indispensably require the
reality of the facts or circumstances stated in the original nar-
rative. And they differ also from the other, in requiring,
jide this, that the same truth or principle be embodied alike
in the type and the antitype. The typical is not properly a
different or higher sense, but a different or higher application of
the same sense.

Returning, then, to the writings of the Fathers, and using
the expressions typical ami allegorical in the senses now respec-
tively ascribed to them, there can be no doubt that the Fathers
.■■rally were much given both to typical and allegorical expla-
nations,— the Greek Fathers more to allegorical than to typical,
— and to allegorical more in the second than in the first sense,
cribed above. They do not appear, for the most part, to
have discredited the plain truth or reality of the statements
made in Old Testament history. They seem rather to have
asidered the sense of the letter true and good, so far as it
went, but of itself so D and puerile, that it was chiefly to

be regarded as the vehicle <>t' a much more refined and ethereal
instruction. Origen, however, certainly went farther than this,
and expressly denied that many things in the Old Testament
had any real existence, in his Principia he affirms, that
1 when the Scripture history could not otherwise be accommo-
dated to the explanation of spiritual things, matters have been

20 THE T1TOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

asserted which did not take place, nay, which could not have
taken place ; and others again, which, though they might have
occurred, yet never actually did so.'1 Again, when speaking of
some notices in the life of liebecca, he says, ' In these things,
I have often told you, there is not a relation of histories, but a
concoction of mysteries.'2 And in like manner, in his annota-
tions on the first chapters of Genesis, he plainly scouts the idea
of God's having literally clothed our first parents with the skins
of slain beasts — calls it absurd, ridiculous, and unworthy of
God, and declares that in such a case the naked letter is not to
be adhered to as true, but exists only for the spiritual treasure
which is concealed under it.3

Statements of this kind are of too frequent occurrence in
the writings of Origen to have arisen from inadvertence, or to
admit of being resolved into mere hyperboles of expression.
They were, indeed, the natural result of that vicious system of
interpretation which prevailed in his age, when it fell, as it did
in his case, into the hands of an ardent and enthusiastic fol-
lower. At the same time it must be owned, in behalf of
Origen, that however possessed of what has been called ' the
allegorical fury,' he does not appear generally to have dis-
credited the facts of sacred history; and that he differed from
the other Greek Fathers chiefly in the extent to which he went
in decrying the literal sense as carnal and puerile, and extolling
the mvstical as alone suited for those who had become ac-

quainted with the true wisdom. It would be out of place here,
however, to go into any particular illustration of this point, as
it is not immediately connected with our present inquiry. But
we shall refer to a single specimen of his allegorical mode of
interpretation, for the purpose chiefly of rendering palpable the
distinction between this and what is strictly typological. We
make our selection from the homily on Abraham's marriage
with Keturah (Horn. vi. in Genes.). Origen does not expressly
disavow his belief in the fact of such a marriage having actually
taken place between the parties in question, though his lan-
guage seems to point in that direction ; but he intimates that
this, in common with the other marriages of the patriarchs,

1 Lib. iv. c. 15, eel. Delarue. 2 Opera, vol. ii. p. 88.

3 Hid. p. 29 ; also Princip. lib. iv. c. 16.

THE VIEWS OF THE FATHERS. 21

contained a sacramental mystery. And what might this b
Nothing loss than the sublime truth, ' that there is no end to
wisdom, and that old age sets no bounds to improvement in
knowledge. The death of Sarah (he says) is to be understood

as the perfecting of virtue. But he who has attained to a con-
summate ami perfect virtue, must always be employed in some
kind of learning — which learning is called bv the divine word
his wife. Abraham, therefore, when an old man. and his
body in ft manner dead, took Keturah to wife. I think it was
better, according to the exposition we follow, that the wife
should have been received when his body was dead, and his
members were mortified. For we have a greater capacity for
wisdom when we bear about the dying of Christ in our mortal
bodv. Then Keturah, whom he married in his old age, is by
interpretation incense, or sweet odour. For he said, even as
Paul said, ib We are a sweet savour of Christ." Sin is a foul
and putrid thing; but if any of you in whom this no longer
dwells, have the fragrance of righteousness, the sweetness of
mercy, ami by prayer continually offer up incense to God, ye
also have taken Keturah to wife.' And forthwith he proceeds
to show, how many such wives may be taken : hospitality is
one, the care of the poor another, patience a third, — each Chris-
tian excellence, in short, a wife ; and hence it was, that the
patriarchs are reported to have had so many wives, and that
Solomon is said to have possessed them even by hundreds, he
having received plenitude of wisdom like the sand on the sea-
shore, and consequently grace to exercise the largest number of
virtues.

We have here a genuine example of allegorical interpreta-
tion, if not actually holding the historical matter to be fabulous,
at least treating it as if it were so. It is of no moment, for
any purpose which such a mode of interpretation might Berve,
whether Abraham ami Keturah had a local habitation among
this world's families, and whether their marriage was a real fact
in history, or an incident fitly thrown into a fictitious narrative,
constructed for the purpose of symbolizing the doctrines ol a
divine philosophy. If it had been handled after the manner el'
a type, ami not as an allegory, whatever Bpecific meaning might
have been ascribed to it as a representation of Gospel mysteries,

22 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the story must have been assumed as real, and the act of
Abraham made to correspond with something essentially the
same in kind — some sort of union, for example, between parties
holding a similar relation to each other, that Abraham did to
Keturah. In this, though there might have been an error in

7 o O

the particular application that was made of the story, there
would at least have been some appearance of a probable ground
for it to rest upon. But sublimated into the ethereal form
woven for it by the subtle genius of Origen, the whole, history
and interpretation together, presently acquires an uncertain and
shadowy aspect. For what connection, either in the nature of
things, or in the actual experience of the Father of the Faith-
ful, can be shown to exist between the death of a wife, and the
consummation of virtue in the husband ; or the wedding of a
second wife, and his pursuit of knowledge ? Why might not
the loss sustained in the former case as well represent the decay
of virtue, and the acquisition in the latter denote a relaxation
in the search after the hidden treasures of wisdom and know-
ledge? There would evidently be as good reason for asserting
the one as the other ; and, indeed, with such an arbitrary and
elastic style of interpretation, there is nothing, either false
or true in doctrine, wise or unwise in practice, which might
not claim support in Scripture. The Bible would be made to
reflect every hue of fancy, and every shade of belief in those
who assumed the office of interpretation ; and instead of being
rendered serviceable to a higher instruction, it would be turned
into one vast sea of uncertainty and confusion.

In proof of this we need only appeal to the use which
Clement of Alexandria, Origen' s master, has made of another
portion of sacred history which relates to Abraham's wives.1
The instruction which he finds couched under the narrative of
Abraham's marriage successively to Sarah and Hagar is, that
a Christian ought to cultivate philosophy and the liberal arts
before he devotes himself wholly to the study of divine wisdom.
This he endeavours to make out in the following manner : —
Abraham is the image of a perfect Christian, Sarah the image
of Christian wisdom, and Hagar the image of philosophy or
human wisdom (certainly far from an agreeable likeness!).

1 Strom, lib. i. c. 5.

THE VIEWS OF THE FATHERS. 23

Abraham lived for a long time in a state of connubial sterility ;
whence it is inferred that a Christian, so long aa he confines
himself to the study of divine wisdom and religion alone, will
never bring forth any great or excellent fruits. Abraham,
then, with the consent of Sarah, takes to him Ilagar, which
proves, according to Clement, that a Christian ought to em-
brace the wisdom of this world, or philosophy, and that Sarah,
or divine wisdom, will not withhold her consent. Lastly,
after Hagar had borne Ishinael to Abraham, he resumed his
intercourse with Sarah, and of her begat Isaac; the true im-
port of which i>, that a Christian, after having once thoroughly
grounded himself in human learning and philosophy, will, if
he then devotes himself to the culture of divine wisdom, be
capable of propagating the race of true Christians, and of
rendering essential service to the Church. Thus we have two
entirely different senses extracted from similar transactions by
the master and the disciple ; and still, far from being exhausted,
as many more might be obtained as there are fertile imagina-
tions disposed to turn the sacred narrative into the channel of
their own peculiar conceits.

It was not simply the historical portions of Old Testament
ripture which were thus allegorized by Origcn, and the other
Greek Fathers who belonged to the same school. A similar
mode of interpretation was applied to the ceremonial institu-
tions of the ancient economy; and a higher sense was often
sought for in these, than we hud any indication of in the
Epistle to the Hebrews. Clement even carried the matter so
far as to apply the allegorical principle to the ten command-
ments, an extravagance in which Origcn did not follow him ;
though we can scarcely tell why he should not have done so.
For even the moral precepts of the Decalogue touch at various
points on the common interests and relations of life ; and it
was the grand aim of the philosophy, in which the allegorizing
then prevalent had its origin, to carry the soul above these
into the high abstractions of a contemplative theosophy. The
Fathers of the Latin Church were much less inclined to such
airy speculations, and their interpretations of Scripture, con*

[uently, possessed more of a realistic and common sense
character. Allegorical interpretations are, indeed, occasion-

24 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

ally found in them, but they are more sparingly introduced,
and less extravagantly carried out.1 But as regards typical
meanings, they are as frequent in the one class as in the other,
and are alike adopted without rule or limit. If in the Eastern
Church we find such objects as the tree of life in the garden
of Eden, the rod of Moses, Moses himself with his arms ex-
tended during the conflict with Amalek, exhibited as types of
the cross ; in the Western Church, as represented, for example,
by Augustine, we meet with such specimens as the following :
1 Wherefore did Christ enter into the sleep of death % Be-
cause Adam slept when Eve was formed from his side, Adam
being the figure of Christ, Eve as the mother of the living, the
figure of the Church. And as she was formed from Adam
while he was asleep, so was it when Christ slept on the cross,
that the sacraments of the Church flowed from His side.'2 So,
again, Saul is represented as the type of death, because God
unwillingly appointed him king over Israel, as He unwillingly
subjected His people to the sway of death ; and David's
deliverance from the hand of Saul foreshadowed our deliver-
ance through Christ from the power of death ; while in David's
escape from Saul's hand, coupled with the destruction that
befell Ahimelech on his account, if not in his stead, there was
a prefiguration of Christ's death and resurrection.3 In the
treatment of New Testament Scripture also, the same style of
interpretation is occasionally resorted to, — as when, in the six
waterpots of John's Gospel, he finds imaged the six ages of
prophecy ; .and in the two or three firkins which they severally
held, the two are taken to indicate the Father and the Son, the
three the Trinity ; or, as he also puts it, the two represent the
Jews and the Gentiles, and the third, Christ, making the two
one.4 But we need not multiply examples, or prosecute the sub-
ject further into detail. Enough has been adduced to show that
the earlier divines of the Christian Church had no just or well-
defined principles to guide them in their interpretations of Old

1 See, however, a thorough specimen of allegorizing after the manner of
Origen, on the ' Sacramentum,' involved in the name and office of Abishag,
in Jerome's letter to Nepotianus (Ep. 52, Ed. Vallars.), indicating, as he
thinks, the larger development of wisdom in men of advanced age.

2 On Psalm xli. 3 On Psalm xlii. * Tract, ix. in Joan.

THE VIEWS OF THE REFOBMEBS. 25

Testament Scripture, which could either enable them to deter-
mine between the fanciful and the true in typical applications,
or guard them against the worst excesses of allegorical licence.1

II. Passing over the period of the Middle Ages, which pro-
duced nothing new in this line, we come to the divines of the
Reformation. At that memorable era a mighty advance was
made, not only beyond the ages immediately preceding, but
also beyond all that had passed from the commencement of
Christianity, in the sound interpretation of Scripture. The
original text then at last began to be examined with something
like critical exactness, and a stedfast adherence was generally

1 The major part of our readers, perhaps, may be of opinion that they
have already been detained too long with the subject, believing that such
interpretations are for ever numbered among the tilings that were. So ivc
were ourselves disposed to think. And yet we have lived to see a substan-
tial revival of the allegorical style of interpretation, in a work of compara-
tively recent date, and a work that bears the marks of an accomplished
and superior mind. We refer to that portion of Mr. "Worsley's Province
the Intellect in Religion, which treats .of the Patriarchs in their Christian
Import^ and the Apostles as the Completion of the Patriarchs. His notion
ecting the Patriarchs briefly is, that Abraham, [saac, and Jacob re-
spectively 'present to us the eternal triune object' of worship, — Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost; that the marriages of the Patriarchs symbolize
God's union with His Church, and with each membi r of it ; and especially
is this done through the wives and children of Jacob, at least in regard to
its practical tendency and sanctifying results. in making out the BChi
the names of the persons mentioned in the history are peculiarly dwelt
upon, as furnishing a sort of key to the allegorical interpretation. Thus
I. ,'n, whose name means wearisome and fatiguing labour, was tin' symbol
of 'services and works which arc of little worth in themselves — labours
rather of a painful and reluctant duty, than of a free and joyful love.'
'She sets forth to us that fundamental lvpulsivcness or stubbornness of
our nature, whose proper and ordained discipline is the daily taskwork of
duty, as done not to man, nor to self, but to God.' Afterwards I. "ah is

identified with the ox. as the symbol of BtubbomneSB ami wearisome
labour; and so 'with Leah the ox symbolizes our taskwork of duty,
and our eapaeity for it,' while the she], (Rachel signifying sheep) sym-
bolizes 'our labours of love, i.e. our real rest ami capacity for it.' — (I'. 71,
11:;, 128.) It may be conjectured from this specimen what ingenuities
•lire to be plied before the author can get through all the twelve sons of
ob, so as to make them symbols of the din and operation-

of a Christian life. We object to the entire scheme, — L. B it is per-

fectly arbitrary. Though Scripture Sometimes warrants us in laying Bt

26 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

professed, and in good part also maintained, to the natural and
grammatical sense. The leading spirits of the Reformation
were here also the great authors of reform. Luther denounced
mystical and allegorical interpretations as 'trifling and foolish
fables, with which the Scriptures were rent into so many and
diverse senses, that silly poor consciences could receive no certain
doctrine of anything.' 1 Calvin, in like manner, declares that
' the true meaning of Scripture is the natural and obvious
meaning, by which we ought resolutely to abide ; ' and speaks
of the 'licentious system' of Origen and the allegorists, as
' undoubtedly a contrivance of Satan to undermine.the authority
of Scripture, and to take away from the reading of it the true
advantage.'2 In some of his interpretations, especially on the

on names, as expressive of spiritual ideas or truths connected with the
persons they belong to, yet it is only when the history itself draws atten-
tion to them, and even then they never stand alone, as the names often do
with Mr. Worsley, the only keys to the import of the transactions : as if,
where acts entirely fail, or where they appear to be at variance with the
symbolical ideal, the key were still to be found in the name. Scripture
nowhere, for example, lays any stress upon the names of Leah and Rachel ;
while it very pointedly refers to the bad eyes of the one, and the attractive
comeliness of the other. And if we ivere inclined to allegorize at all, we
should deem it more natural, with Justin Martyr (Trypho, c. 42) and
Jerome (on Hos. xii. 3), to regard Leah as the symbol of the blear-eyed
Jewish Church, and Rachel of the beloved Church of the Gospel. Even
this, however, is quite arbitrary, for there is nothing properly in common
between the symbol and the thing symbolized— no real bond of connection
uniting them together. And if, by tracing out such lines of resemblance,
we might indulge in a pleasing exercise of fancy, we can never deduce from
them a revelation of God's mind and will. 2. But further, such explana-
tions offend against great fundamental principles— the principle, for ex-
ample, that the Father cannot be represented as entering into union with
the Church, viewed as distinct from the Son and the Spirit ; and the
principle that a sinful act or an improper relation cannot be the symbol
of what is divine and holy. In such a case there never can be any real
agreement. Who, indeed, can calmly contemplate the idea that Abraham's
connection with Hagar, or Jacob's connection with the two sisters and their
handmaids— in themselves both manifestly wrong, and receiving on them
manifest tokens of God's displeasure in providence— should be the chosen
symbol of God's own relation to the Church ? How very different an
allegorizing of this sort is from the typical use made of them in Scripture,
will be shown in the sequel.

1 On Gal. iv. 26. 2 0n Gal- iv> 22.

THE COCCEIAX SCHOOL. 27

prophetical pares of Scripture, lie even went to an extreme in
advocating what he here calls the natural and obvious meaning,
and thereby missed the more profound import, which, according
to the elevated and often enigmatical style of prophecy, it was
the design of the Spirit to convey. On the other hand, in spite
of their avowed principles of interpretation, the writers of the
Reformation-period not {infrequently fell into the old method of
allegorizing, and threw out typical explanations of a kind that
can nut stand a careful scrutiny. It were quite easy to produce
examples of this from the writings of those who lived at, or
immediately subsequent to, the Reformation ; but it would be
of no service as regards our present object, since their attention
was comparatively little drawn to the subject, of types ; and
none of them attempted to construct a well-defined and properly
grounded typological system.

II T. We pass on, therefore, to a later period — about the
middle of the seventeenth century — when the science of theology
m to be studied more in detail, and the types consequently
received a more formal consideration. About that period arose
what is called the Cocceian school, which, though it did not
revive the double sense of the Alexandrian (for Cocceius ex-
pressly disclaimed any other sense of Scripture than the literal
and historical one), yet was chargeable in another respect with
a participation in the caprice and irregularity of the ancient
allegorists. Cocceius himself, less distinguished as a svstematic
writer in theology than as a Hebrew scholar and learned ex-
positor of Scripture, left no formal enunciation of principl

inected with typical or allegorical interpretations; and it is
chiefly from his annotations on particular passages, and the
more systematic works of his followers, that these are to be
gathered. Hovi freely, however, he was disposed to draw uj
Old Testament history for types of Gospel things, may
understood from a single example: his viewing what is said of
Asshur going out and building Nineveh, as a type <>( the Turk
or Mussulman power, which at once sprang from the kingdom,
and shook the dominion of Antichrist.1 lb- evidently conceived
that cci:nj event in Old Testament history, which had a formal

1 Cur. Prior, iu Gen. x. 11.

28 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

resemblance to something under the New, was to be regarded
as typical. And that, even notwithstanding his avowed ad-
herence to but one sense of Scripture, he could occasionally
adopt a second, appears alone from his allegorical interpretation
of the 8th Psalm, according to which the sheep there spoken
of, as being put under man, are Christ's flock ; the oxen, those
who labour in Christ's service ; the beasts of the field, such as
are strangers to the city and kingdom of God, barbarians and
savages ; the fowl of the air and fish of the sea, persons at a
still greater distance from godliness; so that, as he conclude?,
there is nothing so wild and intractable on earth but it shall be
brought under the rule and dominion of Christ.

It does not appear, however, that the views of Cocceius
differed materially from those which were held by some who
preceded him ; and it would seem rather to have been owing to
his eminence generally as a commentator than to any distinctive
peculiarity in his typological principles, that he came to be so
prominently identified with the school, which from him derived
the name of Cocceian. If we turn to one of the earlier editions
of Glass's Philologia Sacra, published before Cocceius com-
menced his critical labours (the first was published as early
as 1623), we shall find the principles of allegorical and typical
interpretations laid down with a latitude which Cocceius himself
could scarcely have quarrelled with. Indeed, we shall find few
examples in his writings that might not be justified on the prin-
ciples stated by Glass ; and though the latter, in his section on
allegories, has to throw himself back chiefly on the Fathers, he
yet produces some quotations in support of his views, both on
these and on types, from some writers of his own age. There
seems to have been no essential difference between the typological
principles of Glass, Cocceius, Witsius, and Vitringa ; and though
the first wrote some time before, and the last about half a century
later than Cocceius, no injustice can be done to any of them by-
classing them together, and referring indifferently to their several
productions. Like the Fathers, they did not sufficiently dis-
tinguish between allegorical and typical interpretations, but re-
garded the one as only a particular form of the other, and both
as equally warranted by New Testament Scripture. Hence
the rules they adopted were to a great extent applicable to what

THE COCCKIAX SCHOOL. 20

is allegorical in the proper sense, as well as typical, though for

the present we must confine ourselves to the typical department.
They held, then, that there was a twofold sort of types, the one
innate, consisting <>f those which Scripture itself has expressly

irted to possess a typical character; the other inferred, con-
sisting of such as, though not specially noticed or explained in
Scripture, were yet, en probable grounds, inferred by interpreters
as conformable to the analogy of faith, and the practice of the
inspired writers in regard to similar examples.1 This latter class
were considered not less proper and valid than the other ; and
pains were taken to distinguish them from those which were

letimes resorted to by Papists, and which were at variance
with the analogies just mentioned. Of course., from their very
nature, they could only be employed for the support and con-
firmation of truths already received, and not to prove what was
in itself doubtful. But not on that account were they to be less
carefully searched for, or less confidently used, because thus
only, it was maintained, could Christ be found in all Scripture,
which throughout testifies of Him.

It is evident alone, from this general statement, that there
was somethiiiLr vague and loose in the Cocceian system, which
left ample scope for the indulgence of a luxuriant fancy. Nor
can we wonder that, in practice, a mere resemblance, however
accidental <>r trifling, between an occurrence in < Hd, and another
iu New Testament times, was deemed sufficient to constitute the
a type of the other. Hence in the writings of the eminent
and learned men above referred to, we lind the name of Abel
(emptiness) viewed as prefiguring our Lord's humiliation; the
lupation of Abel, Christ's office as the Shepherd of Israel;
the withdrawal of Isaac from his father's house to the land of
Moriah, Christ's being led out of the temple to ( lalvary ; Adam's
awaking out of sleep, Christ's resurrection from the dead ;
Samson's meeting a young lion by the way, and the trans-
actions that followed, Christ's meeting Saul on the road to
Damascus, with the important train of events to which it
I d; David's gathering to himself a party of the distressed,
the bankrupt, and discontented, Christ's receiving into His

1 Fhilologia Sac. lib. ii. P. i. Tract, ii. B6Ct. 1. \ 'itringa, Obs. Sac. vol.
ii. lib. vi. r. L"». Witaiu . I >■ (Econ 'in. lib. iv. c. ij.

30 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

Church publicans and sinners; with many others of a like
nature.

Multitudes of examples perfectly similar — that is, equally
destitute of any proper foundation in principle — are to be
found in writers of our own country, such as Mather,1 Keach,2
Worden,8 J. Taylor,4 Guild,5 who belonged to the same school
of interpretation, and who nearly all lived toward the latter part
of the seventeenth century. Excepting the two first, they make
no attempt to connect their explanations with any principles of
interpretation, and these two very sparingly. Their works were
all intended for popular use, and rather exhibited by particular
examples, than systematically expounded the nature of their
views. They, however, agreed in admitting inferred as well as
innate types, but differed — more perhaps from constitutional
temperament than on theoretical grounds — in the extent to
which they respectively carried the liberty they claimed to go
beyond the explicit warrant of New Testament Scripture.
Mather in particular, and Worden, usually confine themselves
to such types as have obtained special notice of some kind from
the writers of the New Testament ; though they held the prin-
ciple, that ' where the analogy was evident and manifest between
things under the Law and things under the Gospel, the one were
to be concluded (on the ground simply of that analogy) to be
types of the other.' How far this warrant from analogy was
thought capable of leading, may be learned from Taylor and
Guild, especially from the latter, who has no fewer than forty-
nine typical resemblances between Joseph and Christ, and seven-
teen between Jacob and Christ, not scrupling to swell the num-
ber by occasionally taking in acts of sin, as well as circumstances
of an altogether trivial nature. Thus Jacob's being a sup-
planter of his brother, is made to represent Christ's supplanting
death, sin, and Satan ; his being obedient to his parents in all
things, Christ's subjection to His heavenly Father and His
earthly parents ; his purchasing his birthright by red pottage,
and obtaining the blessing by presenting savoury venison to his

1 The figures and Types of the Old Testament.

2 Key to open the Scripture Metaphors and Types.

3 The Types Unveiled ; or, the Gospel Picked out of the Legal Ceremonies.

4 Moses and Aaron. & Biases Unveiled.

THE COCCEIAN SCHOOL. 31

father, clothed in Esau's garment, Christ's purchasin
heavenly inheritance to us by His red blood, and obtaining the
blessing by offering up the savoury meat of His obedience, in
the borrowed garment of our nature, etc.

Now, we may affirm of these, and many similar examples
occurring in writers of the same class, that the analogy they
found upon was a merely superficial resemblance appearing be-
tween certain things in Old and certain things in New Testa-
ment Scripture. 15ut resemblances of this sort are so extremely
multifarious, and appear also so different according to the point
of view from which they are contemplated, that it was obviously-
possible for any one to take occasion through them to introduce
the most frivolous conceits, and to caricature rather than vindi-
cate the grand theme of the Gospel. Then, if such weight was
fitly attached to mere resemblances between the Old and tho
New, even when they were altogether of a slight and superficial
kind, why should not profane as well as sacred history be ran-
sacked for them? What,for example, might prevent Romulus
ing that God is in all history, if this actually were history)
assembling a band of desperadoes, and founding a world-wide
empire on the banks of the Tiber, from serving, as well as David
in the circumstances specified above, to typify the procedure of
Christ in calling to Him publicans and sinners at the commence-
ment of His kingdom I As many points of resemblance might
found in the one case as in the other; and the two transac-
tions in ancient history, as here contemplated, stood much on
the same footing as regards the appointment of ( rod : for both
alike were the offspring of human policy, struggling against on-
ward difficulties, and endeavouring with such materials as v.
available to supply the want of better resources. And thus, by
pushing the matter beyond its just limits, we reduce the sacred
to a level with the profane, and, at the same time, throw an
air of uncertainty over the whole aspect of its typical character.

That the Cocceian mode of handling the typical matter of
ancient Scripture so readily admitted of the introduction of
trifling, far-fetched, and even altogether I inalogies, was

one of its capital defects. It had no essential principles or l!
rubs by which to guide its interpretations — set up no pn
landmarks along the held of inquiry — left room on every hand

32 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

for arbitrariness and caprice to enter. It was this, perhaps,
more than anything else, which tended to bring typical inter-
pretations into disrepute, and disposed men, in proportion as the
exact and critical study of Scripture came to be cultivated, to
regard the subject of its typology as hopelessly involved in con-
jecture and uncertainty. Yet this was not the only fault
inherent in the typological system now under consideration. It
failed, more fundamentally still, in the idea it had formed of
the connection between the Old and the New in God's dispen-
sations— between the type and the thing typified — which came
to be thrown mainly upon the mere forms and accidents of
things, to the comparative neglect of the great fundamental
principles which are common alike to all dispensations, and in
which the more vital part of the connection must be sought.
It was this more radical error which, in fact, gave rise to the
greater portion of the extravagances that disfigured the typical
illustrations of our elder divines ; for it naturally led them to
make account of coincidences that were often unimportant,
and sometimes only apparent. And not only so ; but it also
led them to undervalue the immediate object 'and design of
the types in their relation to those who lived amongst them.
"While these as types speak a language that can be distinctly
and intelligently understood only by us, who are privileged to
read their meaning in the light of Gospel realities, they yet had,
as institutions in the existing worship, or events in the current
providence of God, a present purpose to accomplish, apart from
the prospective reference to future times, and, we might almost
say, as much as if no such reference had belonged to them.

IV. These inherent errors and imperfections in the typo-
logical system of the Cocceian school, were not long in leading
to its general abandonment. But theology had little reason to
boast of the change. For the system that supplanted it, with-
out entering at all into a more profound investigation of the
subject, or attempting to explain more satisfactorily the grounds
of a typical connection between the Old and the New, simply
contented itself with admitting into the rank of types what had
been expressly treated as such in the Scripture itself, to the
exclusion of all besides. This seemed to be the only safeguard

the school or marsh. 33

against error and extravagance.1 And yet, we fear, other
reasons of a less justifiable nature contributed not a little to
produce the result. An unhappy current had begun to set in
upon the Protestant Church, in some places while Gocceius
still lived, and in others soon after his death, which disposed
many of her more eminent teachers to slight the evangelical
element in Christianity, and. if not utterly to lose sight of
( rist Himself, at least to disrelish and repudiate a system
which delighted to find traces of Him in every part of revela-
lion. It was the redeeming point of the earlier typology,
which should be allowed to go far in extenuating the occasional
errors connected with ir, that it kept the work and kingdom of
( rist ever prominently in view, as the grand scope and end
of all God's dispensations. It felt, if we may so speak, cor-
rectly, whatever it may have wanted in the requisite depth
and precision of thought. But towards the end of the seven-
teenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century, a general
coldness very commonly discovered itself, both in the writings
and the lives of even the more orthodox sections of the Church.
The living energy and zeal which had achieved such impor-
tant results a century before, either inactively slumbered, or
!f in doctrinal controversies; am! the faith of the
Church was first corrupted in its simplicity, and then weakened

1 The following critique of Buddcus, which* belongs to the earlier part
of last century, already points in this direction: "It cannol certainly be
denied that the Cocceiana, at least some of them, have carried this matter
too far. For, besidea that they everyw m to find images and tj

of future things, where other people can discern none, when they come to
make the application to atitype, they not unfrequently descend to

minute ami even trifling things, nay, advance what is utterly insignifii
ami ludicroi holy writ to the mockery of the profane. Ami

here it may be prop< r to notice tic- fat ; Bince that

intempei ■ for ail which appeared in Origeu and the Fath

and which had been condemned by the Bchoolmen, was again, after an
interval, though under a different form, produced anew upon tl
For this typical inter] a differs from tin- allegorical only in the

Distance, that respect is had in it t«> the future things which
adumbrated by the types; and bo, tic typical may be regarded
all' gorical interpretation. Bui in either way the amplest scope rded

foi tin- play of a luxuriant fancy and a fertile invention.' — J. F. Buddei
I , hist. Theolog. 17

VOL. (. 0

34 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

in its foundations by the pernicious influence of a widely
cultivated, but essentially anticliristian philosophy. In such
circumstances Christ was not allowed to maintain His proper
place in the New Testament; and it is not to be wondered at
if He should have been nearly banished from the Old.

Vitringa, who lived when this degeneracy from better times
had made considerable progress, attributed to it much of that
distaste which was then beginning to prevail in regard to
typical interpretations of Scripture. With special reference
to the work of Spencer on the Laws of the Hebrews, — a work
not less remarkable for its low-toned, semi-heathenish spirit,
than for its varied and well-digested learning, — he lamented
the inclination that appeared to seek for the grounds and
reasons of the Mosaic institutions in the mazes of Egyptian
idolatry, instead of endeavouring to discover in them the
mysteries of the Gospel. These, he believed, the Holy Spirit
had plainly intimated to be couched there ; and they shone,
indeed, so manifestly through the institutions themselves, that
it seemed impossible for any one not to perceive the type, who
recognised the antitype. Nor could he conceal his fear, that
the talent, authority, and learning of such men as Spencer
would gain extensive credit for their opinions, and soon bring
the Typology of Scripture, as he understood it, into general
contempt.1 In this apprehension he was certainly not mis-
taken. Another generation had scarcely passed away when
Dathe published an edition of the Sacred Philology of Glass,
in which the section on types, to which we have already re-
ferred, was wholly omitted, as relating to a subject no longer
thought worthy of a recognised place in the science of an
enlightened theology. The rationalistic spirit, in the- progress
of its anticliristian tendencies, had now discarded the innate,
as well as the inferred types of the elder divines ; and the con-
venient principle of accommodation, which was at the same
time introduced, furnished an easy solution for those passages
in New Testament Scripture which seemed to indicate a typical
relationship between the past and the future. It was regarded
as only an adaptation, originating in Jewish prejudice or con-
ceit, of the facts and institutions of an earlier age to things
1 Obs. Sac. vol. ii. pp. 4G0, 4G1.

THE SCHOOL OF MARSH. 35

essentially different under the Gospel ; but now, since the
state of feeling that gave rise to it no longer existed} deservedly
suffered to fall into desueta And thus the Lund was

virtually broken by the hand of these rationalizing theologians
between t' and the New in revelation; and the records

of Christianity, when scientifically interpreted, were found to
have marvellously little in common with thi Judaism.

In Britain various causes contributed to hold in check this
downward tendency, and to prevent it from reaching the same
of dishonour to Christ which it soon attained on the
Continent. E\en persons of a cold and philosophical tempera-'
ment, such as Clarke and Jortin, not only wrote in defence of
type-, aa having a certain legitimate use in revelation, but also
admitted more within the circle of types than Scripture itself
has expressly applied to Gospel time?.1 They urged, indeed,
the necessity of exercising the greatest caution in travelling
beyond the explicit warrant of Scripture; and in their general
cast of thought they undoubtedly had more affinity with I

•ncerian than the Cocceian school. Yet a feeling of the
close and pervading connection between the Old and the N

'anient dispensations restrained them from discarding the
more important of the inferred types. Jortin especially falls
so much into the vein of earlier writers, that he employs his

• 'unity in reckoning up as many as forty particulars in
which Moses typically prefigured Christ. A work composed
about the same period as that to which the Remarks of Jortin
belong, and one that has had more influence than any other
in fashioning the typological views generally entertained in

tland — the production of a young Dissenting minister in
Dundee (Mr. M'Ewen)2 — is still more free in the admission
of types not expressly sanctioned in the Scriptures of the New

lament. The work itself being posthumous, and inten
for popular use, contains no investigation of the grounds on
which typical interpretations rest, and harmonizes much more

irko's J . p. 120 sq. Jortiu's Remarl 1. tical

v.. I. i. j.].. !

and Truth ; or i C ■ I' R 'eemer Disp

■ ttempi I i i [UcgorUi of the U.l

ament By the Bev. W. M'Ewen.

36 THE TYrOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

with the school that had flourished in the previous century,
than that to which Clarke and Jortin belonged. As indicative
of a particular style of biblical interpretation, it may be classed
with the productions of Mather and Taylor, and partakes alike
of their excellences and defects.

There was, therefore, a considerable unwillingness in this
country to abandon the Cocceian ground on the subject of
types. The declension came in gradually, and its progress was
rather marked by a tacit rejection in practice of much that
was previously held to be typical, than by the introduction of
views specifically different. It became customary with theo-
logians to look more into the general nature of things for the
reasons of Christianity, than into the pre-existing elements and
characteristics of former dispensations ; and to account for
the peculiarities of Judaism by its partly antagonistic, partly
homogeneous relation to Paganism, rather than by any covert
reference it might have to the coming realities of the Gospel.
As an inevitable consequence, the typological department of
theology fell into general neglect, from which the Old Testa-
ment Scriptures themselves did not altogether escape. Those
portions of them especially which narrate the history and
prescribe the religious rites of the ancient Church, were but
rarely treated in a manner that bespoke any confidence in
their fitness to minister to the spiritual discernment and faith
of Christians. It seems, partly at least, to have been owing
to this growing distaste for Old Testament inquiries, and this
general depreciation of its Scriptures, that what is called the
Hutchinsonian school arose in England, which, by a sort of
recoil from the prevailing spirit, ran into the opposite extreme
of searching for the elements of all knowledge, human and
divine, in the writings of the Old Testament. This school

7 O

possesses too much the character of an episode in the history
of biblical interpretation in this country, and was itself too
strongly marked by a spirit of extravagance, to render any
formal account of it necessary here. It was, besides, chiefly of
a physico-theological character, combining the elements of a
natural philosophy with the truths of revelation, both of which
it sought to extract from the statements, and sometimes even
from the words and letters of Scripture. The most profound

THE SCHOOL OF MAESH. 37

meanings were consequently discovered in the sacred text, in
respect alike to the doctrines of the Gospel and the truths of

•nee. One of the maxims of its founder was that 'every
passage of the Old Testament looks backward and forward,
and every way, like light from the sun; not only to the state
before and under the Law. but under the Gosp 1. and nothing
is hid from the light thereof.'1 When such a depth and com-
plexity of meaning was supposed to he involved in every
passage,* we need not he surprised to learn, respecting the
exactness of Abraham's knowledge of future events, that he
knew from preceding types and promises, not only that 'one
of his own line was to be sacrificed, to be a blessing to all the
race of Adam,' but that wdien lie received the command to
offer Isaac, he proceeded to obey it, 'not doubting that Isaac
was to be that person who should redeem man.'2

The cabalistic and extravagant character of the Hutcliin-
sonian system, if it had any definite influence on the study of
types and other cognate subjects, could only tend to increi
the suspicion with which they were already viewed, and foster
a disposition to agree to whatever might keep investigation
within the bounds of sobriety and discretion. Accordingly,
while nothing more was done to unfold the essential and proper
ground of a typical connection between Old and New Testament
things, and to prevent abuse by tracing the matter up to its
ultimate and fundamental principles, the more scientific students
of the 15il>le came, by a sort of common consent, to acquiesce
in the opinion, that those only were to be reckoned types to
which Scripture itself, by express warrant, or at least by obvious
implication, had assigned that character. Bishop Marsh may
be named as perhaps the ablest and most systematic expounder
of this view of the subject. lie says, ' There is no other rule
by which we can distinguish a real from a pretended type, than
that of Scripture itself. There are no other possible means by
which we can know that a previous design and a pre-ordained
connection existed. Whatever persons or things, therefore,

irded in the OM Testament, were expressly declared by
Christ or by Ili> apostles to have been designed as prefigura-
tions of per.Mins or things relating to the New Testament, such

1 Hutchinson's Works, vol. i. p. 202. ■ Ibid. rol. vii. p. 8

38 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

persons or things so recorded in the former, are types of the
persons or things with which they are compared in the latter.
But if we assert that a person or thing was designed to pre-
figure another person or thing, where no such prefiguration has
been declared by divine authority, we make an assertion for
which we neither have, nor can have, the slightest foundation.'1
This was certainly a most explicit and peremptory decision on
the matter. But the principle involved in the decision, though
seldom so oracularly announced, has long been practically
received. It was substantially adopted by Macknight, in his
Dissertation on the Interpretation of Scripture, at the end of
his Commentary on the Epistles, before Bishop Marsh wrote ;
and it has been followed since by Vanmildert and Conybeare
in their Bampton Lectures, by Nares in his Warhurtonian
Lectures, by Chevalier in his Hulsean Lectures, by Home in
his Introduction, and a host of other writers.

Judging from an article in the A merican Biblical Repository,
which appeared in the number for January 1841, it would
appear that the leading authorities on the other side of the
Atlantic concurred in the same general view. The reviewer
himself advocates the opinion, that l no person, event, or insti-
tution, should be regarded as typical, but what may be proved
to be such from the Scriptures,' meaning by that their explicit
assertion in regard to the particular case. And in support of
this opinion he quotes, besides English writers, the words of
two of his own countrymen, Professor Stowe and Moses Stuart,
the latter of whom says, 'That just so much of the OKI
Testament is to be accounted typical as the New Testament
affirms to be so, and no more. The fact that any thing or
event under the Old Testament dispensation was designed to
prefigure something under the New, can be known to us only
bv revelation ; and of course all that is not designated by divine
authority as typical, can never be made so by any authority less
than that which guided the writers of the New Testament.'2

Now, the view embraced by this school of interpretation

lies open to one objection, in common with the school that

preceded it. While the field, as to its extent, was greatly

circumscribed, and in its boundaries ruled as with square and

1 Lectures, p. 373. 2 Stuart's Ernesti, p. 13.

THE SCHOOL OF MARSH.

compass, • nothing was done in the way of investigating it

internally, or of unfolding the grounds of connection between
type and antitype. Fewer points of resemblance are usually
pre to us between the one and the other by the writers

of this school than are found in works of an older date ; but
the resemblances themselves are quite as much of a superficial
and outward kind. The real harmony and connection between
the Old and Xew in the divine dispensations, stood precisely
where it was. But other defects adhere to this more recent
typological system. The leading excellence of the system that
preceded it was the constant reference it conceived the Scrip-
tures of the Old Testament to bear toward Christ and the
Gospel dispensation ; and the practical disavowal of this maybe
said to constitute the great defect of the more exact, but balder
system, which supplanted it with the general concurrence of the
learned. It drops a golden principle for the sake of avoiding
a few lawless aberrations. With such narrow limits as it sets
to our inquiries, we cannot indeed wander far into the regions
of extravagance. But in the very prescription of these limits,
it wrongfully withholds from us the key of knowledge, and
shuts us up to errors scarcely less to be deprecated than those
it seeks to correct. For it destroys to a large extent the bond
of connection between the Old and the New Testament Scrip-
tures, and thus deprives the Christian Church of much of the
instruction in divine things which they were designed to impart.
Were men accustomed, as they should be, to search for the
ins of Christian truth in the earliest Scriptures, and to
ard the inspired records of both covenants as having for
their leading object ' the testimony of Jesus,' they would know
how much they were losers by such an undue contraction of
the typical element in Old Testament Scripture. And in
proportion as a more profound and spiritual acquaintance with
the divine word is cultivated, will the feeling of dissatisfaction
grow in respect to a style of interpretation that so miserably
dwarfs ami cripples the relation which the preparatory bears
to the ultimate in God's revelations.

It is necessary, however, to take a closer view of the sub-
ject. The principle on which this typological system takes its
stand, is, that nothing less than inspired authority is sufficient

40 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

to determine the reality and import of anything that is typical.
But what necessary reason or solid ground is there for such a
principle ? No one holds the necessity of inspiration to explain
each particular prophecy, and decide even with certainty on its
fulfilment ; and why should it be reckoned indispensable in the
closely related subject of types? This question was long ago
asked by Witsius, and yet waits for a satisfactory answer. A
part only, it is universally allowed, of the prophecies which
refer to Christ and His kingdom have been specially noticed
and interpreted by the pen of inspiration. So little neces-
sary, indeed, was inspiration for such a purpose, that even
before the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, our Lord
reproved His disciples as 'fools and slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets had spoken.'1 And from the close ana-
logy between the two subjects — for what is a type but a
prophetical act or institution ? — wre might reasonably infer the
same liberty to have been granted, and the same obligation to
be imposed, in regard to the typical parts of ancient Scripture.
But we have something more than a mere argument from
analogy to guide us to this conclusion. For the very same
complaint is brought by an inspired writer against private
Christians concerning their slowness in understanding the
typical, which our Lord brought against His disciples in re-
spect to the prophetical portions of ancient Scripture. In the
Epistle to the Hebrews a sharp reproof is administered for the
imperfect acquaintance believers among them had with the
typical character of Melchizedek, and subjects of a like nature
— thus placing it beyond a doubt that it is both the duty and
the privilege of the Church, with that measure of the Spirit's
grace which it is the part even of private Christians to possess, to
search into the types of ancient Scripture, and come to a correct
understanding of them.2 To deny this, is plainly to withhold
an important privilege from the Church of Christ ; to dissuade
from it, is to encourage the neglect of an incumbent duty.

But the unsoundness of the principle, which would thus

limit the number of types to those which New Testament

Scripture has expressly noticed and explained, becomes still

more apparent when it is considered what these really are,

1 Luke xxiv. 25. 2 Tjeb. v. 11-14.

the school of marsh. 41

and in what manner they are introduced. Leaving out of
view the tabernacle, ^ith its furniture and Bervices, which, as
a whole, is affirmed in the Epistles to the Hebrews and the
Colossi ans to have been of a typical nature, the following
examples are what the writers now referred to usually regard
;is having more or less of a direct sanction in Scripture: —

1. Persons or characters: Adam (Horn. v. 11, 12; 1 Cor. xv.
22); Melchizedek (Heb. vii.) ; Sarah and Hagar, [shmael
and ]>aac, and by implication Abraham (Gal. iv. l'l' 35
Moses (Gal. Hi. 19; Acts iii. 22 26); Jonah (Matt. xii. 40);
David (Ezek. xxxvii. 24; Luke i. 32, etc.); Solomon (2 Sam.
vii.); Zerubbabel and Joshua (Zech. iii. iv. ; Hag. ii. 23).

2. Transactions or events : the preservation of Noah and his
family in the ark (1 Pet. iii. 20); the redemption from Egypt
and its passover-memorial (Luke xxii. 15, 10; 1 Cor. v. 7);
the exodus (Matt. ii. 15) ; the passage through the Red Sea.
the giving of manna, Moses' veiling of his face while the law

DO / D

was read ; the water flowing from the smitten rock ; the ser-
pent lifted up for healing in the wilderness, and some other
things that befell the Israelites there (1 Cor. x. ; John iii. 14,
v. 33; Rev. ii. 18).1

Now, let any person of candour and intelligence take his
Bible, and examine the passages to which reference is her •
made, and then say whether the manner in which these typical
characters and transactions arc there introduced, is such as to
indicate that these alone were held by the inspired writers to be

1 We don't vouch, of course, for the absolute completeness of the above
1 it i.s scarcely possible to know whal would be regarded as a
complete list — some feeling satisfied with an amount of recognition in
Scripture which seems quite insufficient in the eyes of others. There I

d those who, on the strength of < ten. xlix. 24, would insert Joseph am
iaUy mentioned types, and claim also Samson, on account "f what
is written in Judg. xiii. 5. But scriptural warrants of such a kind are out

late now - they can no longer \><- regarded as current coin. ( )n the other
hand, th not a few who deem the scriptural warrant insufficient for

some of those we have specified, and think the p they are

noticed refer to them merely in the way of illustration. The list, however,
s what are usually i 1 as historical types, possessing distinct

scriptural authority, by writers belonging to the school of Marsh. The

omenta of those who would discard them altogether will be onsidi
onder next division.

42 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

prefigurative of similar characters and transactions under the
Gospel? that in naming them they meant to exhaust the typical
bearing of Old Testament history? On the contrary, we deem
it impossible for any one to avoid the conviction, that in what-
ever respect these particular examples may have been adduced,
it is simply as examples adapted to the occasion, and taken from
a vast storehouse, where many more were to be found. They
have so much at least the appearance of having been selected
merely on account of their suitableness to the immediate end in
view, that they cannot fairly be regarded otherwise than as
specimens of the class they belong to. And if so, they should
rather have the effect of prompting further inquiry than of re-
pressing it ; since, instead of themselves comprehending and
bounding the whole field of Scriptural Typology, they only
exhibit practically the principles on which others of a like
description are to be discovered and explained.

Indeed, were it otherwise, nothing could be more arbitrary
and inexplicable than this Scriptural Typology. For, what is
there to distinguish the characters and events, which Scripture
has thus particularized, from a multitude of others, to which the
typical element might equally have been supposed to belong ?
Is there anything on the face cf the inspired record to make us
look on them in a singular liirht, and attribute to them a sio;nifl-
cance altogether peculiar respecting the future affairs of God's
kingdom ? So far from it, that we instinctively feel, if these
really possessed a typical character, so also must others, which
hold an equally, or perhaps even more prominent place in the
history of God's dispensations. Can it be seriously believed,
for example, that Sarah and Hagar stood in a typical relation
to Gospel times, while no such place was occupied by Eebekah,
as the spouse of Isaac, and the mother of Jacob and Esau ?
What reason can we imagine for Melchizedek and Jonah having
been constituted types — persons to whom our attention is com-
paratively little drawn in Old Testament history — while such
leading characters as Joseph, Samson, Joshua, are omitted?
Or, for selecting the passage through the Red Sea, and the
incidents in the wilderness, while no account should be made
of the passage through Jordan, and the conquest of the land
of Canaan?

THE SCHOOL OF MARSH. '•-

We can Bcarcely conceive of a mode of interpretation which
should deal more capriciously with the word of God, and make
anomalous a use of its historical records. Instead of investing
these with a homogeneous character, it arbitrarily selects a few
ont of the general mass, and sets them up in solitary grandeur,
like mystic symbols in a temple, fictitiously elevated above the
red materials around them. The exploded principle, which
Jit a type in every notice of Old Testament history, had at
t the merit of uniformity to recommend it, and could not
said to deal partially, however often it might deal fancifully,
with the facts of ancient Scripture. But according to the plan
v under review, for which the authority of inspiration itself
is claimed, we perceive nothing but arbitrary distinctions and
groundless preferences. And though unquestionably it were
wrong to expect in the word of God the methodical precision
and order which might naturally have been looked for in a
merely human composition, yet as the product, amid all its
variety, of one and the same Spirit, we are warranted to expect
that there shall be a consistent agreement among its several
parts, and that distinctions shall not be created in the one
Testament, which in the other seem destitute of any just foun-
dation or apparent reason.

But then, if a greater latitude is allowed, how shall we guard
against error and extravagance ? Without the express authority
of Scripture, how shall we be able to distinguish between a
happy illustration and a real type? In the words of Bishop
Marsh : ' V>y what means shall we determine, in any given
instance, that what is alleged as a type was really designed for
a type \ The only possible source of information on this sub-
ject is Scripture itself. The only possible means of knowing
that two distant, though similar historical facts, were so con-
ted in the il scheme of Divine Providence that the one
w.i ned to prefigure the other, is the authority of that bonk
in which the scheme of Divine Providence is unfolded.'1 This
is an objection, indeed, which strikes at the root of the whole
matter, and its validity can only be ascertained by a thorough
investigation into the fundamental principles of the subject.
That Scripture is the sole rule, on the authority of which wo

1 Lectures, p. 872.

44 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

are to distinguish what is properly typical from what is not, we
readily grant — though not in the straitened sense contended for
by Bishop Marsh and those who hold similar views, as if there
were no way for Scripture to furnish a sufficient direction on
the subject, except by specifying every particular case. It is
possible, surely, that in this, as well as in other things, Scrip-
ture may indicate certain fundamental views or principles, of
which it makes but a few individual applications, and for the
rest leaves them in the hand of spiritually enlightened con-
sciences. The rather may we thus conclude, as it is one of the
leading peculiarities of New Testament Scripture to develope
great truths, much more than to dwell on minute and isolated
facts. It is a presumption against, not in favour of, the system
we now oppose, that it would shut up the Typology of Scripture,
in so far as connected with the characters and events of sacred
history, within the narrow circle of a few scattered and appa-
rently random examples. And the attempt to rescue it from
this position, if in any measure successful, will also serve to
exhibit the unity of design which pervades the inspired records
of both covenants, the traces they contain of the same divine
hand, the subservience of the one to the other, and the mutual
dependence alike of the Old upon the New, and of the New
upon the Old.

V. We have still, however, another stage of our critical
survey before us, and one calling in some respects for careful
discrimination and inquiry. The style of interpretation which
we have connected with the name of Marsh could not, in the
nature of things, afford satisfaction to men of thoughtful minds,
who must have something like equitable principles as well as
external authority to guide them in their interpretations. Such
persons could not avoid feeling that, if there was so much in
the Old Testament bearing a typical relation to the New, as
was admitted on scriptural authority by the school of Marsh,
there must be considerably more ; and also, that underneath
that authority there must be a substratum of fundamental
principles capable of bearing what Scripture itself has raised
on it, and whatever besides may fitly be conjoined with it.
But some, again, might possibly be of opinion that the authority

MORE RECENT VIEWS. 45

of Scripture cannot warrantable carry us so far : and that both
scriptural authority, and the fundamental principles involved

in the nature of the subject, apply only in part to what the
disciples of Marsh regarded as typical. Accordingly, among
moiv recent inquirers we have examples of each mode of diver-
gence from the formal rules laid down by the preceding school
of interpretation. The search for first principles has disposed

ie greatly to enlarge the typological field, and it has disposed
others not less to curtail it.

1. To take the latter class first, as they stand most nearly
related to the school last discoursed of, representatives of it are
certainly not wanting on the Continent, among whom may be
named the hermeneutical writer Klausen, to whom reference
will presently be made in another connection. But it is the less
needful here to call in foreign authorities, as the view in ques-
tion has had its advocates in our own theological literature. It
was exhibited, for example, in Dr. L. Alexander's Connection
and Harmony of the Old and New Testament (1841), in which,
while coinciding substantially with Bahr in his mode of explain-
ing and applying to Gospel times the symbolical institutions
of the Old Covenant, he yet declared himself opposed to any
further extension of the typical sphere. lie would regard
nothing as entitled to the name of typical which did not possess
the character of 'a divine institution ;' or, as he formally defines
the entire class, ' they are symbolical institutes expressly ap-
pointed by God to prefigure to those among whom they were

up certain great transactions in connection with that plan
of redemption which, in the fulness of time, was to be unfolded
to mankind.' Hence the historical types of every description,
even those which the school of Marsh recognised on account
of the place given to them in New Testament Scripture, were
altogether disallowed; the use made of them by the inspired
writers was held to be 'for illustration merely, and not for the
purpose of building anything on them:' they are not thereby
constituted or proved to be typ .

The same view, however, was taken up and received a much
fuller and more resolute vindication by the American writer
Mr. Lord, in a periodical not unknown in this country — the
E siastical and Literary Journal (No. x\\). This was d' ••"

46 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

in connection with a fierce and elaborate review of the first
edition of the Typology, in the course of which its system of
exposition was denounced as ' a monstrous scheme,' not only
' without the sanction of the word of God,' but ' one of the
boldest and most effective contrivances for its subversion.' It
is not my intention now — less, indeed, when issuing this new
edition (the fourth) than formerly — to attempt to rebut such
offensive charges, or to expose the misrepresentations on which
to a large extent they were grounded. I should even have pre-
ferred, had it been in my power to do so, repairing to some
vindication of the same view, equally strenuous in its advocacy,
but conducted in a calmer and fairer tone, in order that the
discussion might bear less of a personal aspect. But as my
present object is partly to unfold the gradual progress and de-
velopment of opinion upon the subject of Scriptural Typology,
justice could scarcely be done to it without hearing what Mr.
Lord has to say for the section of British and American theo-
logians he represents, and meeting it with a brief rejoinder.

The writer's mode was a comparatively easy one for proving
a negative to the view he controverted. He began with setting
forth a description of the nature and characteristics of a type,
so tightened and compressed as to exclude all from the categorv
but what pertained to ' the tabernacle worship, or the propitia-
tion and homage of God.' And having thus with a kind of
oracular precision drawn his enclosure, it was not difficult to
dispose of whatever else might claim to be admitted ; for it is
put to flight the moment he presents his exact definitions, and
can only be considered typical by persons of dreamy intellect,
who are utter strangers to clearness of thought and precision of
language. In this way it is possible, we admit, and also not
very difficult, to make out a scheme and establish a nomen-
clature of one's own ; but the question is, Does it accord with
the representations of Scripture? and will it serve, in respect to
these, as a guiding and harmonizing principle? We might, in
a similar way, draw out a series of precise and definite charac-
teristics of Messianic prophecy — such as, that it must avowedly
bear the impress of a prediction of the future — that it must in
the most explicit terms point to the person or times of Messiah
— that it must be conveyed in language capable of no ambiguity

MORE RECENT VIEWS. 47

or double reference ; and then, with this sharp weapon in our
hand, proceed summarily to lop off all supposed prophetical
passages in which these characteristics are wanting — holding
such, if applied to Messianic times, to be mere ac lommodations,

finally intended for one thing, and afterwards loosely adapl
to another. The rationalists of a former generation were great
adepts in this mode of handling prophetical Scripture, and by
the use of it readily disposed of many of the pi ■ which in

the New Testament are represented as finding their fulfilment
in Christ. But we have yet to learn, that by so doing they
succeeded in throwing any satisfactory light on the interpre-
tation of Scripture, or in placing on a solid basis the connection
between the OKI and the New in God's dispensation-.

I low closely the principles of Mr. Lord lead him to tread in
the footsteps of these effete interpreters, will appear presently.
But we must first lodge our protest against his account of the
essential nature and characteristics of a type, as entirely arbi-
trary and unsupported by Scripture. The things really pos-
sessing this character, he maintains, must have had the three
following distinctive marks: They must have been specifically
constituted types by God ; must have been known to be so
constituted, and contemplated as such by those who had to do
with them ; and must have been continued till the coining of
Christ, when they were abrogated or superseded by something
analogous in the Christian dispensation. These are hi itial

elements in the constitution of a type; and an assertion of the
want of one or more of them forms the perpetual refrain, with
which he disposes of those characters and transactions that in
his esteem are falsely accounted typical. "We object to even-
one of them in the sense understood by the writer, and deny
that scriptural proof can be produced for them, as applying to
the strictly religious symbols of the Old Testament worship,
and to them alone. These were not specifically constituted
types, <>r formally set up in that character, no more than such
transactions as the deliverance from Egypt, or the preservation
of Noah in the deluge, which are denied to have been typical.
In the manner of their appointment, viewed by itself, then
no more to indicate a reference to the Messianic future in the
one than in the other. Neither were they for certain known to

48 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

be types, and used as such by the Old Testament worshippers.
They unquestionably were not so used in the time of our Lord ;
and how far they may have been so at any previous period, is a
matter only of probable inference, but nowhere of express reve-
lation. Nor, finally, was it by any means an invariable and
indispensable characteristic, that they should have continued in
use till they were superseded by something analogous in the
Christian dispensation. Some of the anointings were not so
continued, nor the Shekinah, nor even the Ark of the Covenant;
and some of them stood in occasional acts of service, such as
the Nazarite vow, in its very nature special and temporary.
The redemption from Egypt was in itself a single event, yet it
was closely allied to the symbolical services ; for it was linked
to an ever-recurring and permanent ordinance of worship. It
was a creative act, bringing Israel as a people of God into formal
existence, and as such capable only of being commemorated,
but not of being repeated. It was commemorated, however, in
the passover-feast. In that feast the Israelites continually
freshened the remembrance of it anew on their hearts. They
in spirit re-enacted it as a thing that required to be constantly
renewing itself in their experience, as in the Lord's Supper is
now done by Christians in regard to the one great redemption-
act on the cross. This, too, considered simply as an act in
God's administration, is incapable of being repeated; it can
only be commemorated, and in its effects spiritually applied to
the conscience. Yet so far from being thereby bereft of an
antitypical character, it is the central antitype of the Gospel.
Why should it be otherwise in respect to the type? The ana-
logy of things favours it, and the testimony of Scripture not
doubtfully requires it.

To say nothing of other passages of Scripture which bear
less explicitly, though to our mind very materially, upon the
subject, bur Lord Himself, at the celebration of the last pass-
over, declared to His disciples, ' With desire I have desired to
eat this passover with you before I suffer ; for I say unto you,
I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the king-
dom of God.'1 That is, there is a prophecy as well as a memo-
rial in this commemorative ordinance — a prophecy, because it

1 Luke xxii. 15, 16.

MORE RECENT VIEWS. 40

is the rehearsal of a typical transaction, which is now, and only
now, going to meet with its full realization. Such appears to
be the plain and unsophisticated import of our Lord's words.
And the Apostle Paul is, if possible, still more explicit when he
says, 'For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us (more
exactly, 'For also our passover has been sacrificed, Christ'):
therefore let us keep the feast,' etc.1 What, we again ask, are
we to understand by these words, if not that there is in the
design and appointment of God an ordained connection between
the death of Christ and the sacrifice of the passover, so that
the one, as the means of redemption, takes the place of the
other? In any other sense the language would be only fitted
to mislead, by begetting apprehensions regarding a mutual cor-
respondence and connection which had no existence. It is
alleged on the other side, that 'Christ is indeed said to be
our passover, but it is by a metaphor, and indicates only that
it is by His blood we are saved from everlasting death, as
the first-born of the Hebrews were saved by the blood of
the paschal lamb from death by the destroying angel.' Were
this all, the apostle might surely have expressed himself less
ainbi'uiouslv. If there was no real connection between the
earlier and the later event, and the one stood as much apart
from the other as the lintels of Goshen in themselves did from
the cross of Calvary, why employ language that forces upon
the minds of simple believers the reality of a proper connection ?
Simply, we believe, because it actually existed ; and our ' exe-
getical conscience,' to use a German phrase, refuses to be satis-
lied with our reviewer's mere metaphor. But when he states
further, that the passover, having been 'appointed with a refer-
ence to the exemption of the first-born of the Israelites from the
death that was to be inflicted on the first-born of the Egyptians,
it cannot be a type of Christ's death for the sins of the world,
as that would imply that Christ's death also was commemorative
of the preservation from an analogous death,' who does not
perceive that this is to confound between the passover as an
original redemptive transaction, and as a commemorative ordi-
nance, pointing back to the great fact, and perpetually rehearsing
it? It is as a festal solemnity alone that there can be anything

1 1 Cur. v. 7, 8.
VOL. I. D

50 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

commemorative belonging either to the paschal sacrifice or to
Christ's. Viewed, however, as redemptive acts, there ivas a
sufficient analogy between them : the one redeemed the first-
born of Israel (the firstlings of its families), and the other
redeems ' the Church of the first-born, whose names are written
in heaven.'

There is manifested a like tendency to evacuate the proper
meaning of Scripture in most of the other instances brought
into consideration. Christ, for example, calls Himself, with
pointed reference to the manna, ' the bread of life ;' and in
Rev. ii. 17 an interest in His divine life is called ' an eating of
the hidden manna,' but it is only ' by a metaphor,' precisely as
Christ elsewhere calls Himself the vine, or is likened to a rock.
As if there were no difference between an employment of these
natural emblems and the identifying of Christ with the super-
natural food given to support His people, after a provisional
redemption, and on the way to a provisional inheritance ! It is
not the simple reference to a temporal good on which, in such
a case, we rest the typical import, but this in connection with
the whole of the relations and circumstances in which the tem-
poral was given or employed. Jonah was not, it is alleged, a
type of Christ ; for he is not called such, but only a ' sign :'
neither was Melchizedek called by that name. Well, but
Adam is called a type (tu7to? tov /AeWovTos, Rom. v. 14), and
baptism is called the antitype to the deluge (o /cal rj/xd<; avri-
tvttov vvv aco^ei f3anTTL(j[ia, 1 Pet. iii. 21). True, but then, we
are told, the word in these passages only means a similitude ;
it does not mean type or antitype in the proper sense. What,
then, could denote it ? Is there any other term more properly
fitted to express the idea ? And if the precise term, when it is
employed, still does not serve, why object in other cases to the
want of it ? Strange, surely, that its presence and its absence
should be alike grounds of objection. But if the matter is to
come to a mere stickling about words, shall we have any types
at all % Are even the tabernacle and its institutions of wor-
ship called by that name % Not once ; but inversely, the desig-
nation of antitypes is in one passage applied to them : ' The holy
places made with hands, the antitypes of the true' (avrlrvTra
Toiv u\i]0tvwv} Heb. ix. 24). So little does Scripture, in its

MORE RECENT VIEWS. 61

teachings on this subject, encourage us to hang our theoreti-
cal explanations on a particular epithet ! It varies the mode
of expression with all the freedom of common discourse, and

n, as in this particular instance, inverts the current phrase-
ology ; but still, amid all the variety, it indicates with sufficient
plainness a real economical connection between the past and the
present in God's dispensations, — such as is commonly under-
stood by the terms type and antitype. And this is the great
point, however we may choose to express it.

The passage in Galatians respecting Sarah and Isaac on the
one Bide, and Hagar and [shmael on the other, naturally formed
one of some importance for the view sought to be established
in the Typology, and as such called for Mr. Lord's special con-
sideration. Here, as in other cases, he begins with the state-
ment that the characters and relations there mentioned have
not the term type applied to them, and hence should not be
reckoned typical. ' It is only said,' he continues, ' that that
which is related of Hagar and Sarah is exhibited allegorically ;
that is, that there are other chings that, used is allegorical
representatives of Hagar and Sarah, exhibit the same facts and
truths. The object of the allegory is to exemplify them by
analogous things: not by them to exemplify something else, to
which they present a resemblance. It is ill£y who are said
to be allegorized, that is, represented by something else; not
something 3lse that is allegorized by them. They are accord-
ingly said to be the two covenants, that is, like the two cove-
nants; and Mount Sinai is used to represent the covenant that
genders to bondage ; and Jerusalem from above — that is, the
Jerusalem of Christ's kingdom — the covenant of freedom or
grace. And they accordingly ire employed [by the apostle] to

forth the character and condition of the bond and the free
woman, and their offspring. He Attempts to illustrate the lot
of the two classes who are under law and nnder grace: first, by
referring to the different relations to the covenant, and different
lot of the children of the bond and the free woman ; and then,

by . Mount Sinai to exemplify the character ami condition

of those under the Mosaic law, and the heavenly Jerusalem, to
exemplify those who are under the Gospel. The places from

which the two covenants are proclaimed are thus used to repre-

52 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

sent those two classes ; not Hagar and Sarali to represent those
places, or the covenants that are proclaimed from them.' Now,
this show of exact criticism — professing to explain all, and yet
leaving the main thing totally unexplained — is introduced, let
it be observed, to expose an alleged ' singular neglect of dis-
crimination ' in the use I had made of the passage. I had, it
seems, been guilty of the extraordinary mistake of supposing
Hagar and Sarah to be themselves the representatives in the
apostle's allegorization, and not, as I should have done, the
objects represented. Does any of my readers, with all the
advantage of the reviewer's explanation, recognise the impor-
tance of this distinction ? Or can he tell how it serves to
explicate the apostle's argument ? I cannot imagine how any
one should do so. In itself it misjht have been of no moment,
though it is of much for the apostle's argument, whether Hagar
and Sarah be said to represent the two covenants of law and
grace, or the two covenants be said to represent them ; as in
Heb. ix. 24 it is of no moment whether the earthly sanctuary
be called the antitype of the heavenly, or the heavenly of the
earthly. There is in both cases alike a mutual representation,
or relative correspondence ; and it is the nature of the corre-
spondence, inferior and prepai*atory in the one case, spiritual
and ultimate in the other, which is chiefly important. It is
that (though entirely overlooked by the reviewer) which makes
the apostle's appeal here to the historical transactions in the
family of Abraham suitable and appropriate to the object he
has in view. For it is by the mothers and their natural off-
spring he intends to throw light on the covenants, and their
respective tendencies and results. It was the earlier that
exemplified and illustrated the later, not the later that exem-
plified and illustrated the earlier ; otherwise the reference of
the apostle is misplaced, and the reasoning he founds on it
manifestly inept.

One specimen more of this school of interpretation, and I
leave it. Among the passages of Scripture that were referred
to, as indicating a typical relationship between the Old and the
New in God's dispensations, is Matt. ii. 15, where the Evan-
gelist speaks of Christ being in Egypt till the death of Herod,
' that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by

MORE RECENT VIEWS. 5 J

the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my Son.'
The allusion to this passage in the first, as well as in the
present, edition of this work, was never meant to convey the
idea that it was the only scriptural authority fur concluding
a typical relationship to have subsisted between Israel and
Christ. It was, however, referred to as one of the passages
most commonly employed by typological writers in proof of
such a relationship, and in itself most obviously implying it.
But what says the reviewer ? 'The language of Matthew does
not imply that it (the passage in Hosea) was a prophecy of
Christ; he simply states that Jesus continued in Egypt till
Herod's death, so that that occurred in respect to Him which
had been spoken by Jehovah by the prophet, Out of Egypt have
1 called my Son; or, in other words, so that that was accom-
plished in respect to Christ which had been related by the
prophet of Israel.' Was there not good reason for indicating
a close affinity between the typological principles of this writer,
and the loose interpretations of rationalism ? One might sup-
pose that it was a comment of Paul us or Kuinoel that we are
here presented with, and I transfer their paraphrase and notes
to the bottom of the page, to show how entirely they agree in
spirit.1 If the Evangelist simply meant what is ascribed to
him, it was surely strange that he should have taken so peculiar
a way to express it. But if the words he employs plainly-
intimate such a connection between Christ and Israel, as gave
to the testimony in llosea the force of a prophecy (which is
the natural impression made by the reference), who has any
right to tame down his meaning to a sense that would entirely
eliminate this prophetical element, — the very element to which,
apparently, he was anxious to give prominence .' What we
have here to deal with is inspired testimony respecting the con-
nection between Israel and Christ ; and it cannot have justice
done to it, unless it is taken in its broad and palpable import.3

1 Kuinoel : It adep hie rccte possit Iaudari, quod dominus olim intcr-
■ propheta dixit, nempi Egypto rocavi filium meum. Paulus:

• tXnpovafat id here fulfilling, as denoting a completion after tJu resem-
blance;* and he adopts as bis own Era rephrase, 'Here one might

say with greater justice (in a fuller Bense) what II a said of Israel.'

e further, under cli. iv., aud Appendix A, c. 4.

54 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

2. We turn now to the other class of writers, whose aim it
has been in recent times to enlarge and widen the typological
field. The chief, and for some time the only, distinguished
representatives of it were to be found in Germany ; as it was
there also that the new and more profound spirit of investiga-
tion began to develope itself. Near the commencement of the
present century the religions of antiquity began to form the
subject of more thoughtful and learned inquiry, and a depth of
meaning was discovered (sometimes perhaps only thought to be
discovered) in the myths and external symbols of these, which
in the preceding century was not so much as dreamt of.
Creuzer, in particular, by his great work (Symbolik) created
quite a sensation in this department of learning, and opened
up what seemed to be an entirely new field of research. He
was followed by Baur \Symbolik unci Mythologie), Gorres
(Jft/thengeschichte)) Muller, and others of less note, each en-
deavouring to proceed further than preceding inquirers into
the explication of the religious views of the ancients, by weav-
ing together and interpreting what Is known of their historical
legends and ritual services. These inquiries were at first con-
ducted merely in the way of antiquarian research and philoso-
phical speculation ; and the religion of the Old Testament was
deemed, in that point of view, too unimportant to be made the
subject of special consideration. Creuzer only here and there
threw out some passing allusions to it. Even Baur, though a
theologian, enters into no regular investigation of the symbols
of Judaism, while he expatiates at great length on all the
varieties of Heathenism. By and by, however, a better spirit
appeared. Mosaism, as the religion of the Old Testament is
called, had a distinct place allotted it by Gorres among the
ancient religions of Asia. And at last it was itself treated at
great length, and with distinguished learning and ability, in a
separate work — the Symbolik des Mosaischen Cultus of Bi'tlir
(published in 1837-9). This continues still (1863) to hold an
important place in Germany on the subject of the Mosaic
symbols, although it is pervaded by fundamental errors of the
gravest kind (to which we shall afterwards have occasion to
advert), and not unfrequently falls into fanciful views on
particular parts. Some of these were met by Hengstenberg in

MORE RECENT VIEWS. 55

the second volume of his Authentic des PentateucJtU8} who lias
also furnished many good typical illustrations in his Ckristohgy
and other exegetical works. Tholuck, in his Commentary on
the Hebrews, has followed in the same tract, generally adopting
the explanations of Hengstenberg ; and still more recently
(chiefly since the publication of our first edition), further con-
tributions have been made, particularly by Kurtz, Baumgarten,
1> litzsch. Even De Wette, in his old age, caught something
of this new spirit ; and after many an effort to depreciate apostolic
Christianity by detecting in it symptoms of Judaical weakness
and bigotry, he made at least one commendable effort in the
nobler direction of elevating J uduism, by pointing to the manifold
germs it contained of a spiritual Christianity. In a passage
quoted by Biihr (vol. i. p. 16, from an article by De "Wette on
the ' Characteristik des Hebraismus'), he says: 'Christianity
sprang out of Judaism. Long before Christ appeared, the world
was prepared for His appearance : the entire Old Testament is a
U propheci/j a great type of IJim u-ho icas to come, and has
conn-. Who can deny that the holy seers of the Old Testament
saw in spirit the advent of Christ long before lie came, and in
prophetic anticipations, sometimes more, sometimes less clear,
scried the new doctrine? The typological comparison, also,
of the Old Testament with the New, was by no means a mere
play of fancy ; nor can it be regarded as altogether the result
of accident, that the evangelical history, in the most important
particulars, runs parallel with the Mosaic. Christianity lay in
Judaism as leaves and fruits do in the seed, though certainly it
needed the divine sun to bring them forth.'

Such language, especially as coming from such a quarter,
undoubtedly indicated a marked change. Yet it must not be
supposed, on reading so strong a testimony, as if everything were
already conceded ; for what by such writers as De Wette is
granted in the general, is often denied or explained away in the
particular. Even the idea of a coming Messiah, as expressed in
the page of prophecy, was held to be little more than a patriotic
hope, the natural product of certain circumstances conned
with the Israelitish nation.1 Nor did the new light thus intro-
duced lead to any well-grounded and regularly developed system
1 Sue Hengstenberg, Chrtslohr/y, vol. iv. p. 1391, Trans.

56 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

of typology, based on a clear and comprehensive view of the
divine dispensations. Bahr confined himself almost entirely
to the mere interpretation of the symbols of the Mosaic dis-
pensation, and hence, even when his views were correct, rather
furnished the materials for constructing a proper typological
system, than himself provided it. And it has been noted by
Tholuck and other learned men as a defect in their literature,
that they are without any work on the subject suited to the
existing position and demands of theological science.1

It is to be observed, however, that this new current of opinion
among the better part of theologians on the Continent, leads
them to find the typical element widely diffused through the
historical and prophetical, as well as the more strictly religious
portions of the Old Testament. No one who is in any degree
acquainted with the exegetical productions of Hengstenberg and
Olshausen, now made accessible to English readers, can have
failed to perceive this, from the tone of their occasional refer-
ences and illustrations. Their unbiassed exegetical spirit rendered
it impossible for them to do otherwise ; for the same connection,
they perceived, runs like a thread through all the parts, and
binds them together into a consistent whole. Indeed, the only
formal attempt made to work out a new system of typological
interpretation, prior to the incomplete treatise mentioned in the
last note, — the essay of Olshausen (published in 1824, and
consisting only of 124 widely printed pages), entitled Ein Wort
uher liefern Schriftsinn, — has respect almost exclusively to the

1 This defect cannot yet be said to have been supplied ; not by the
Symbolique du Culte de VAncienne Alliance (1860) of Neumann, published
since the above was written — the work of a German, though written in
French. For not only is the work incomplete (the first part only having
appeared), but it possesses more the nature of a condensed sketch or outline
of the subject, than a full investigation. So far as it goes, it is written
with clearness and vigour, contains some fine thoughts, and is pervaded by
an earnest and elevated spirit. Justice requires me to add, that it appears
to be marred by two misleading tendencies : one of excess — attempting to
carry religion too much into the domain of science (for example, in the use
made of Goethe's Theory of Colours to explain some of the Old Testament
symbols) ; the other of defect — viewing religion almost, if not altogether
exclusively, on the subjective side, which necessarily leads to certain meagre
and arbitrary explanations. Reference may possibly be made to some of
them iu the sequel.

MOKE RECENT VIEWS. 57

historical and prophetical parts of ancient Scripture. When he
comes distinctly to unfold what he calls the deeper exposition of
Scripture, he contents himself with a brief elucidation of the
following points : — That Israel's relation to God is represented
in Scripture as forming an image of all and each of mankind,
in so far as the divine life is possessed by them — that Israel's
relation to the surrounding heathen in like manner imaged the
conflict of all spiritual men with the evil in the world — that a
parallelism, is drawn between Israel and Christ as the one who
completely realized what Israel should have been — and that all
real children of God again image what, in the whole, is found
imperfectly in Israel and perfectly in Christ (pp. 87-110).

These positions, it must be confessed, indicate a considerable
degree of vagueness and generality; and the treatise, as a whole,
is defective in first principles and logical precision, as well as
fulness of investigation. Klausen, in the following extract
from his Hermeneutik, pp. 334-345, has given a fair outline
of Olshausen's views : ' We must distinguish between a false
and a genuine allegorical exposition, which latter has the sup-
port of the highest authority, though it alone has it, being fre-
quently employed by the inspired writers of the New Testament.
The fundamental error in the common allegorizing, from which
all its arbitrariness has sprung, bidding defiance to every sound
principle of exposition, must be sought in this, that a double
sense has been attributed to Scripture, and one of them conse-
quently a sense entirely different from that which is indicated
by the words. Accordingly, the characteristic of the genuine
allegorical exposition must be, that it recognises no sense besides
the literal one — none differing from this in nature, as from the
historical reality of what is recorded; but oidy a deeper-lying
setise (vttovoici), bound up with the literal meaning by an inter-
nal and essential connection — a sense given along with this and
in it ; so that it must present itself whenever the subject is
con lidered from the higher point of view, and is capable of being
ascertained by fixed rules. Hence, if the question be regarding
the fundamental principles, according to which the connection
must be made out between the deeper apprehension and the
immediate conveyed by the words, these have their founda-

tion in the law of general harmony, by which all individuals, in

58 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the natural as well as in the spiritual world, form one great
organic system — the law by which all phenomena, whether be-
longing to a higher or a lower sphere, appear as copies of what
essentially belongs to their respective ideas ; so that the whole
is represented in the individual, and the individual again in the
whole. This mysterious relation comes most prominently out
in the history of the Jewish people and their worship. But
something analogous everywhere discovers itself ; and in the
manner in which the Old Testament is expounded in the New,
we are furnished with the rules for all exposition of the Word,
of nature, and of history.'

The vague and unsatisfactory character of this mode of re-
presentation is evident almost at first sight : the elements of
truth contained in it are neither solidly grounded nor sufficiently
guarded against abuse ; so that, with some justice, Klausen
remarks, in opposition to it : 'The allegorizing may perhaps be
applied with greater moderation and better taste than formerly ;
but against the old principle, though revived as often as put
down, — viz. that every sense which can be found in the words
has a right to be regarded as the sense of the words, — the same
exceptions will always be taken.' If the Typology of Scripture
cannot be rescued from the domain of allegorizings, it will be
impossible to secure for it a solid and permanent footing. It
cannot attain to this while coupled with allegorical licence, or
with a nearer and deeper sense. It is proper to add, that
Klausen himself has no place in his Hermeneutik for typical,
as distinguished from allegorical, interpretations. In common
with hermeneutical writers generally, he regards these as sub-
stantially the same in kind, and the one only as the excess of
the other. Some application he would allow of Old Testament
Scripture to the realities of the Gospel, in consideration of what
is said by inspired writers of the relation subsisting between
the two ; but he conceives that relation to be of a kind which
scarcely admits of being brought to the test of historical truth,
and that the examples furnished of it in the New Testament
arose from necessity rather than from choice.

Later writers generally, however, on the Continent, who
have meditated with a profound and thoughtful spirit on the
history of the divine dispensations, have shown a disposition to

MORE RECENT VIEWS. SO

tread in the footsteps of Olshausen rather than of Klausen.
And it cannot but be regarded aa a Btriking exemplification of
the revolving cycles through which theological opinion is some-
times found to pass, that, after two centuries of speculation and
inquiry, a substantial return lias been made by some of the
ablest of these divines — though by diverse routes — to the more
fundamental principles of the Cocceian school. It was charac-
teristic of that school to contemplate the dispensations chiefly
le point of view, according to which, the end being
1 from the beginning, the things pertaining to the end w
often, by a not unnatural consequence, made to throw back
their light too distinctly on those of the beginning, and the pro-
gressive nature of the divine economy was not sufficiently re-
garded. It was further characteristic of the same school, that,
viewing everything in the scheme of God as planned with re-
ference to redemption, they were little disposed to discriminate
in (hi.< respect between one j^ortion of the earlier things belonging
to it ami another; wherever they could trace a resemblance,
there also they descried a type; and everything in the history
as well as in the institutions of the Old Covenant, was brought
into connection with the realities of the Gospel. Now, these
two fundamental characteristics of Cocceianism, somewhat dif-
ferently grounded, and still more differently applied, are pre-
cisely those to which peculiar prominence is given in the writings
of such men as Hofmann, Kurtz, Lange, and others of the
present day. The first of these, in a work (Weissagnng und
I lungt 1841 11) which, from its spirit of independent in-
quiry, and the fresh veins of thought it not unfrequently opened
up, exerted an influence upon many who had no sympathy with
the doctrinal principles of the author, made even more of the
typical element in Old Testament history than was done by the
( 'occeians. It is in the typical character of history, rather than
in the prophetic announcements which accompanied it, that he
would find the germ and presage of the future realities of the
Gospel : the history foreshadowed these; the prophets, acting
the men of superior discernment} simply perceive. I and inter-
ted what was in the history. Therefore, to elevate the his-
torical and depress the prophetical in Old Testament Scripture,
might be regarded as the general aim of Hofmann' s under-

60 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

taking : yet only formally and relatively to do so ; for, as ex-
pressive of the religious state and development of the covenant
people, both were in reality depressed, and the sacred put much
on a level with the profane. This will sufficiently appear from
the following illustration: 'Every triumphal procession which
passed through the streets of Rome was a prophecy of Augustus
Caesar ; for what he displayed through the whole of his career,
was here displayed by the triumphant general on his day of
honour, namely, the God in the man, Jupiter in the Roman
citizen. In the fact that Rome paid such honours to its vic-
torious commanders, it pointed to the future, when it should
rule the world through the great emperor, to whom divine
honours would be paid.' This he brings into comparison with
the allusion made in John xix. 36 to the ordinance respecting
the passover lamb, that a bone of it should not be broken ; and
then adds : ' The meaning of the triumph was not fully realized
in the constantly recurring triumphal processions ; and so also
the meaning of the passover was not fully realized in the yearly
passover meals ; but the essential meaning of both was to be
fully developed at some future period, when the prophecy con-
tained in them should also be fully confirmed' (i. p. 15). But
what, one naturally asks, did the prophecy in such cases amount
to ? It will scarcely be alleged that even the most gifted
Roman citizen who lived during the period of triumphal pro-
cessions, could with any certainty have descried in these the
future possessor of the imperial throne. It could at the most
have been but a vague anticipation or probable conjecture, if
so much as that ; for, however the elevation of Augustus to that
dignity might, after the event actually occurred, have come to
be regarded ' as the top-stone and culminating point in the
history,' assuredly the better spirits of the commonwealth were
little disposed to long for such a culmination, or to think of it
beforehand as among the destinies of the future. It is only as
contemplated from the divine point of view that the triumphal
procession could with any propriety be said to foreshadow the
imperial dignity, — a point of view which the event alone ren-
dered it possible for men to apprehend ; and the so-called pro-
phecy, therefore, when closely considered and designated by its
proper name, was merely the divine purpose secretly moulding

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the events which were in progress, and, through these, marching
on to its accomplishment. This, and nothing more (since Zion
is put on a footing with Koine), is the kind of prophecy which
Hofmann would find, and find exclusively, in the facts and
circumstances of Israelitish history. Because they in reality
culminated in the wonders of redemption, they might be said to
mark the progression of the divine procedure toward that as its
final aim. But who could meanwhile conjecture that there was
any such geal in prospect ? The prophets, it is affirmed, could
not rise above the movements of the current history ; not even
the 8eer8f by way of eminence, could penetrate further into the
future than existing relations and occurrences might carry them.
"What signified it, then, that a latent prophecy lay enwrapped
in the history? There was no hand to remove the veil and
disclose the secret. The prophecy as such was known only in
the heavenly sphere ; and the whole that could be found in the
human was some general conviction or vague hope that prin-
ciples were at work, or a plan was in progress, which seemed
to be tending to loftier issues than had vet been reached.

This scheme of Hofmann is too manifestly an exaggeration
of a particular aspect of the truth to be generally accepted as
a just explanation of the wdiole ; by soaring too high in one
direction, fixing the eye too exclusively on the divine side of
things, it leaves the human bereft of its proper significance and
value — reduces it, in fact, to a rationalistic basis. Hengsten-
berg lias justly said of it, in the last edition of his Christol
(vol. iv. p. 389), that 'by overthrowing prophecy, in the strict
sense, it necessarily involves acted prophecy (or type) in the
same fate; and that it is nothing but an illusion to attempt to
elevate types at the expense of prophecy.' Without, however,
attempting after this fashion to sacrifice the one of these for
the sake of the other, various theologians have Bought to com-
bine them, so as to make the one the proper complement of the
other — two divinely-appointed factors in the production of a
common result, such as the necessities of the Church required.
Thus Kurtz,1 while he contends for the proper function of
prophecy, as having to do with the future not less than the
present, maintains that the history also of the Old Covenant
1 Hist, <>f Old Cov., Iatrod. §7, 8.

62 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

was prophetic, l both because it foreshadows, and because it
stands in living and continuous relation to, the plan of salvation
which was going to be manifested.' He thinks it belongs to
prophecy alone to disclose, with requisite freedom and distinct-
ness, the connection between what at any particular time was
possessed and what was still wanted, or between the fulfilments
of promise already made and the expectations which remained
to be satisfied ; but in doing this, prophecy serves itself of the
history as not only providing the occasion, but also containing
the germ of what was to come. He therefore holds that the
sacred history possesses a typical character, which appears pro-
minently, continuously, markedly in decided outlines, and in a
manner patent not only to posterity, but, by the assistance of
prophecy, to contemporaries also, according to the measure that
their spiritual capacity might enable them to receive it. This
character belongs alike to events, institutions, and dispensa-
tions ; but in what manner or to what extent it is to be carried
out in particular cases, nothing beyond a few general lines have
been indicated.

These views of the typical element contained in the history
and institutions of the Old Covenant, while they present certain
fundamental agreements with the principles of the Cocceian
school, have this also in common with it, that they take the need
for redemption — the fall of man — as the proper starting-point
alike for type and prophecy. But another and influential class
of theologians, having its representatives in this country as well
as on the Continent, has of late advanced a step further, and
holds that creation itself, and the state and circumstances of
man before as well as after the fall, equally possessed a typical
character, being from the outset inwrought with prophetic indi-
cations of the person and kingdom of Christ. To this class
belong all who have espoused the position (not properly a new
one, for it is well known to have been maintained by some of
the scholastic divines), that the incarnation of Godhead in the
person of Christ was destined to take place irrespective of the
fall, and that the circumstances connected with this only deter-
mined the specific form in which He was to appear, and the
nature of the work He had to do, but not the purpose itself of
a personal indwelling of Godhead in the flesh of man, which is

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held to have been indispensable for the full manifestation of
the divine character, and the perfecting of the idea of humanity.

The advocates of this view include Lange, Dorner, Liebner,
Ebrard, Martensen, with several others of reputation in Ger-
many, and in this country, I Kan Trench (in his Sermons
preached before the University of Cambridge). Along with
these there are others — in particular, Dr. M'Cosh, the late I lugh
Miller, also the late- Mr. M'Donald of Edinkillie — who, without
distinctly committing themselves to this view of the incarnation,
yet, on the ground of the analogy pervading the fields alike of
nature and redemption in respect to the prevalence of typical
forms — on this ground, at least, more especially and peculiarly
— hold not less decidedly than the thi ins above named, the

existence of a typical element in the original frame and consti-
tution of things.

Such being the turn that later speculations upon this subject
have taken, it manifestly becomes necessary to examine all the
more carefully into the nature and properties of a type. We
must endeavour to arrive (if possible) at some definite ideas and
fundamental principles on the general subject, before entering
on the consideration of the particular modes of revelation by
type, to which, however, the larger portion of our investigations
must still be directed.

CHAPTER SECOND.

THE PROPER NATURE AND PROVINCE OF TYPOLOGY. — 1. SCRIP-
TURAL USE OF THE WORD TYPE — COMPARISON OF THIS
WITH THE THEOLOGICAL — DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS
OF A TYPICAL RELATIONSHIP, VIEWED WITH RESPECT TO
THE RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

The language of Scripture being essentially popular, its use of
particular terms naturally partakes of the freedom and variety
which are wont to appear in the current speech of a people ;
and it rarely if ever happens that words are employed, in respect
to topics requiring theological treatment, with such precision and
uniformity as to enable us, from this source alone, to attain to
proper accuracy and fulness. The word type (tu7to?) forms no
exception to this usage. Occurring once, at least, in the natural
sense of mark or impress made by a hard substance on one of
softer material (John xx. 25), it commonly bears the general
import of model, pattern, or exemplar, but with such a wide
diversity of application as to comprehend a material object of
worship, or idol (Acts vii. 43), an external framework constructed
for the service of God (Acts vii. 44 ; Heb. viii. 5), the form or
copy of an epistle (Acts xxiii. 25), a method of doctrinal instruc-
tion delivered by the first heralds and teachers of the Gospel
(Rom. vi. 17), a representative character, or, in certain respects,
normal example (Rom. v. 14; 1 Cor. x. 11; Phil. hi. 17; 1 Thess.
i. 7 ; 1 Pet. v. 3). Such in New Testament Scripture is the
diversified use of the word type (disguised, however, under other
terms in the authorized version). It is only in the last of the
applications noticed, that it has any distinct bearing on the sub-
ject of our present inquiry ; and this also comprises under it so
much of diversity, that if we were to draw our definition of a
type simply from the scriptural use of the term, we could give
no more specific description of it than this — a certain pattern or
exemplar exhibited in the position and character of some indivi-

NATURE OF A TYrE. 05

duals to which others mayor should be conformed. Adam stood,

we arc told, in the relation of a type to the coming Messiah,
backsliding Israelites in their guilt and punishment to similar
characters in Christian times, faithful pastors to their flocks,
first converts to those who should afterwards believe, — a mani-
festly varied relationship, closer in some than in others, yet in
each implying a certain resemblance between the parties asso-
ciated together; something in the one that admitted of being vir-
tually reproduced in the other. Thus defined and understood,
it will be observed that a type is no more peculiar to one dis-
pensation than another. It is to be found now in the true pastor or
the exemplary Christian as well as formerly in Adam or in Israel;
and since believers generally are predestined to be conformed
to the image of Christ, he might, of course, be designated for
all times emphatically and pre-eminently the type of the Church.

But presented in this loose and general form, there is nothing
in the nature of a type that can be said to call for particular
investigation, or that may occasion material difference of opinion.
The subject involves only a few leading ideas, which are familiar
to every intelligent reader of Scripture, and which can prove of
small avail to the satisfactory explication of what is peculiar in
the history of the divine dispensations. When, however, with
reference more to the subject itself than to the mere employ-
ment of a particular word in connection with it, we pursue our

arches into the testimony of Scripture, we presently find
relations indicated between one class of things and another,
which, while the same in kind, perhaps, with those just noticed,
have yet distinctive features of their own, which call for thought-
ful inquiry and discriminating treatment. These have already
to some extent come into consideration in the historical and
critical review that has been presented of past opinion.1 It is
enough to refer here to such passages as Heb. ix. 24 — where
the holy places of the earthly tabernacle arc called the antityi
(avrmnra) of the true or heavenly ; the latter, of course, accord-
ing to this somewhat peculiar phraseologv, being viewed as the
types of the other: Heb. viii. 5 — where the whole structure of
the tabernacle, with its appointed ritual of service, is designal
an example and shadow (inruBeiyna ko\ aKia) of heavenly things:

1 See at p. 1 1

\ ' '-. I. E

66 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

Ps. ex. 4 ; Ileb. vi. 10-12, vii. — where Melchizedek is exalted
over the ministering priesthood of that tabernacle, as bearing
in some important respects a still closer relationship to Christ
than was given them to occupy : 1 Pet. iii. 21 — where Chris-
tian baptism is denominated the antitype to the deluge, and by
implication the deluge is made the type of baptism : Matt. ii.
15 ; Luke xxii. 16 ; 1 Cor. v. 7 ; John ii. 19, vi. 31-33 ; 1 Cor.
x. £ — where Christ is in a manner identified with the corporate
Israel, the passover, the temple, the manna, the water-giving
rock. When reading these passages, and others of a like descrip-
tion, our minds instinctively inquire — what is the nature of the
connection indicated by them between the past and the present
in God's economy % Is it such as subsists between things alike
in principle, but diverse in form % between things on the same
spiritual level, or things rising from a lower to a higher level ?
Is the connection strictly the same in all, or does it vary with
the objects and parties compared ? What light is thrown by
the different elements entering into it upon the revealed cha-
racter of God, and the progressive condition of His Church 1
Can we discover in them the lines of a divine harmony in the
one respect, and of a human harmony in the other 1 Such are
the questions which here naturally press on us for solution ; and
they are questions altogether occasioned by peculiarities in pre-
ceding dispensations as compared with that of the Gospel. The
relation of the present to the still coming future — which is that
simply of the initial to the terminal processes of the salvation
already accomplished — is of a much less complicated and embar-
rassing kind, and can scarcely be said to give rise to questions
of the class now specified.

In another respect, however, substantially the same questions
arise — namely, in connection with much that is indicated of the
anticipated future of the Christian Church, pointing, as it does,
even after Christian realities had come, to further developments
of the forms and relations of earlier times. For in the pro-
spective delineations which are given us in Scripture respecting
the final issues of Christ's kingdom among men, while the foun-
dation of all undoubtedly lies in the mediatorial work and
offices of Christ Himself, it still is through the characters, ordi-
nances, and events of the Old Covenant, not those of the New

NATURE OF A TYPE. 07

(with the exception just specified), that the things to come are
shadowed forth to the eye of faith ; the forms of things in the
remote past have here also, it would seem, to find their proper
complement and destined realization. Thus Israel still appears,
among the prophetic glimpses in question, with his twelve fcril
his marvellous redemption, wilderness-sojourn, and rescued in-
heritance;1 and the tabernacle or temple, with its courts and
sanctuaries, its ark of testimony and cherubim of glory, its
altars and .offerings : '-' and the ancient priesthood, with their
linen robes and angel-like service;8 Zion ami Jerusalem, Bal
Ion and Euphrates, Sodom and Egypt;4 and more remote still,
especially when the mystery of God in Christ is seen approach-
ing its consummation, paradise with its tree of life and rivers of
gladness, its perennial delights, and over all its heaven-crowned
Lord, with the spouse formed from Himself to share with Him
in the glory, and yield Him faithful service in the kingdom.8
No more, amid the anticipations of Christian faith and hope,
are we permitted to lose sight of the personages and materials
of the earlier dispensations, than in those which took shape
under pre-Christian times.

Having respect, therefore, to the nature of the subject under
consideration, and the more peculiar difficulties attending it,
rather than to the infrequent and variable use of the word type
in Scripture, theologians have been wont to distinguish between

ting relationships (such as of a pa-tor to his people, or of
Christ to the heirs of His glory) and those which connect

tlier bygone with Christian times — the things pertaining to
the Old with those pertaining to the New Covenant. The former
alone they have usually designated by the name of types, the
latter by that of antitypes. This mode of distinguishing by
theologians has been represented as an unwise departure from
iptural usage, and in itself necessarily titted to mislead.1' It

1 Matt, xix. 28; Rev. vii. 1-17, xii. 1 1, xv. 3.

- 2 Thesa. Li. I : Rev. iv. 7, 8, viii. 8, xi. l, 2, xv. 6-8, xxi. 3.

iv. 1, XV. 6.
* Heb. xii. -J-J; Rev. xi. 8, xiv. 1-8, xvi. 12, xxi. 2.
' R iv. ii. 7, vii. 17, xix. 7, x\i. '.'.

c 'We do not know what right divines have to construct m of

theological types, instead of a system of Scripture types. Wo are sure that

6S THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

admits, however, of a reasonable justification ; and to treat the
subject with anything like scientific precision and fulness, with-
out determining after such a method the respective provinces of
type and antitype, would be found extremely inconvenient, if
not impracticable. The testimony of Scripture itself, when
fairly consulted, affords ground for the distinction indicated, in
a great measure apart from and beyond the application of the
specific terms. By adhering closely to its usage in respect to
these, and disregarding other considerations, one might readily
enough, indeed, present some popular illustrations, or throw off
a few general outlines of the typical field ; but to get at its more
distinctive characteristics, and explicate with some degree of
satisfaction the difficulties with which it invests, to our view,
the evolution of God's plan and ways, is a different thing, and
demands a greatly more exact and comprehensive line of inves-
tigation. The extravagance which has too often characterized
the speculations of divines upon the subject has arisen, not from
their devising a theological sense for the word type (which Scrip-
ture itself might be said to force on them), but from their failure
to search out the fundamental principles involved in the whole
representations of Scripture, and to make a judicious and dis-
criminating application of the light thence arising to the different
parts of the subject.1

Understanding the word type, then, in the theological sense, —
that is, conceiving its strictly proper and distinctive sphere to lie
in the relations of the old to the new, or the earlier to the later,
in God's dispensations, — there are two things which, by general
consent, are held to enter into the constitution of a type. It is
held, first, that in the character, action, or institution which is
denominated the type, there must be a resemblance in form or
spirit to what answers to it under the Gospel ; and secondly,
that it must not be any character, action, or institution occur-
ring in Old Testament Scripture, but such only as had their
ordination of God, and were designed bv Him to foreshadow

ha 1 they kept to the Scripture use of the term, instead of devising a theo-
logical sense, they would have been saved from much extravagance, and
evolved much truth.' — M'Cosh, in Typical Forms, p. 523.

1 The question, whether the things of creation should be formally treated
as typical, will be considered in Ch. IV.

NATURE OF A TYPE. GO

and prepare for the better tilings of the Gospel. For, as Bishop
Marsh lias justly remarked, 'to constitute one thing the type
of another, something more is wanted than mere resemblance.
The former must not only resemble the latter, but must have
1 i • Igned 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
ii preordained as constituent parts of the same general
scheme of Divine Providence. It is this previous design and
this ///■(-('/•'/-///(('(/connection [together, of course, with the resem-
blance], which constitute the relation of type and antitype.1 '
We insert, together with the resemblance; for, while stress is
justly laid on the previous design and pre-ordained connection,
the resemblance also forms an indispensable element in this
very connection, and is, in fact, the point that involves the more
peculiar difficulties belonging to the subject, and calls for the
closest investigation.

I. "We begin, therefore, with the other point — the previous
design and pre-ordained connection necessarily entering into the
relation between type and antitype. A relation so formed, and
subsisting to any extent between Old and New Testament
things, evidently presupposes and implies two important facts.
It implies, first, that the realities of the Gospel, which constitute
the antitypes, are the ultimate objects which were contemplated
by the mind of God, when planning the economy of His suc-
sive dispensations. And it implies, secondly, that to prepare
the way for the introduction of these ultimate objects, He
placed the Church under a course of training, which included
instruction by types, or designed and fitting resemblances of
what was to come. Both of these facts are so distinctly stated
in Scripture, ami, indeed, so generally admitted, that it will be
unnecessary to do more than present a brief outline of the
proof on which they rest.

1. In regard to the first of the two facts, we find the desig-
nation of ' the ends of the world' applied in Scripture to the
G pel-age;8 and that not so much in r< to its posteriori

1 Mareh'a Lectures, p. 871. 2 1 Cor. x. 11 ; Heb. xi. 40.

70 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

in point of time, as to its comparative maturity in regard to the
things of salvation — the higher and better things having now
come, which had hitherto appeared only in prospect or existed
but in embryo. On the same account the Gospel dispensation
is called ' the dispensation of the fulness of times ; ' l indicating
that with it alone the great objects of faith and hope, which the
Church was from the first destined to possess, were properly
brought within her reach. Only with the entrance also of this
dispensation does the great mystery of God, in connection with
man's salvation, come to be disclosed, and the light of a new and
more glorious era at last breaks upon the Church. ' The day-
spring from the height,' in the expressive language of Zacharias,
then appeared, and made manifest what had previously been
wrapt in comparative obscurity, what had not even been dis-
tinctly conceived, far less satisfactorily enjoyed.2 Here, there-
fore, in the sublime discoveries and abounding consolations of
the Gospel, is the reality, in its depth and fulness, while in the
earlier endowments and institutions of the Church there was
no more than a shadowy exhibition and a partial experience ; 3
and as a necessary consequence, the most eminent in spiritual
light and privilege before, were still decidedly inferior even to
the less distinguished members of the Messiah's kingdom.4 In
a word, the blessed Redeemer, whom the Gospel reveals, is
Himself the beginning and the end of the scheme of God's

1 Eph. i. 10.

2 Luke i. 78 ; 1 Johu ii. 8 ; Rom. xvi. 25, 26 ; Col. i. 27 ; 1 Cor. ii. 7, 10.

3 Col. ii. 17 ; Heb. viii. 5.

4 Matt. xi. 11, where it is said respecting John the Baptist, 'notwith-
standing he that is least (o ^ix.p6rspo;) in the kingdom of heaven is greater
than he.' The older English versions retained the comparative, and ren-
dered, ' he that is less in the kingdom of heaven ' (Wickliffe, Tyndale,
Cranmer, the Geneva) ; and so also Meyer in his Coram., ' he who occupies
a proportionately lower place in the kingdom of heaven.' Lightfoot, Heng-
stenberg, and many others, approve of this milder sense, as it may be called,
but Alford adheres still to the stronger, ' the least ; ' and so does Stier
in his Reden Jesu, who, in illustrating the thought, goes so far as to say,
' A mere child that knows the catechism, and can say the Lord's prayer,
both knows and possesses more than the Old Testament can give, and
so far stands higher and nearer to God than John the Baptist.' One
cannot but feel that this is putting an undue strain on our Lords
declaration.

NATURE OF A TATE. 7 1

dispensations ; in Him is found alike the centre of Heaven's
plan, and the one foundation of human confidence and hope.
So that before His coming into the world, all tilings of necessity
pointed toward Him ; types and prophecies bore testimony to

the things that concerned His work and kingdom ; the children
of blessing were blessed in anticipation of His promised re-
demption : and iri/h His coming, the grand reality itself came,
and the higher purposes of Heaven entered on their fulfilment.1

2. The other fact presupposed and implied in the relation
between type and antitype, — namely, that God subjected the
( hurch to a course of preparatory training, including instruc-
tion by types, before He introduced the realities of His final
dispensation, — is written with equal distinctness in the page of
inspiration. It is scarcely possible, indeed, to dissociate even
in idea the one fact from the other; for, without such a course
of preparation being perpetually in progress, the long delay
which took place in the introduction of the Messiah's kingdom,
would be quite inexplicable. Accordingly, the Church of the
Old Testament is constantly represented as having been in a
state of comparative childhood, supplied only with such means
of instruction, and subjected to such methods of discipline as
were suited to so imperfect and provisional a period of her
being. Her law, in its higher aim and object, was a school-
master t<> bring men to Christ ;2 and everything in her condi-
tion— what it wanted, as well as what it possessed, what was
done for her, and what remained yet to be done — concurred in
pointing the way to Him who was to come with the better
promises and the perfected salvation.3 Such is the plain import
of a great many scriptures bearing on the subject.

It is to be noted, however, in regard to this course of pre-
paration, continued through so many ages, that everything in
the mode of instruction and discipline employed ought not to

regarded as employed simply for the sake of those who lived
during its continuance. It was, no doubt, primarily introduced
on their account, and must have been wisely adapted to their
circumstances, as under preparation for better things to come.

1 Rev. i. 8; Luke ii. 25; Acts x. -13, iv. 12; Rom. iii. L'."> ; 1 Pet. i.
10 12, 20.

GaL iii. -'1. ■ Beb. vii., viii., ix.

72 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

But, at the same time, it must also, like the early training of a
well-educated youth, have been fitted to tell with beneficial
effect on the spiritual life of the Church in her more advanced
state of existence, after she had actually attained to those better
things themselves. The man of mature age, when pursuing
his way amid the perplexing cares and busy avocations of life,
finds himself continually indebted to the lessons he was taught
and the skill he has acquired during the period of his early
culture. And, in like manner, it was undoubtedly God's in-
tention that His method of procedure toward the Church in
her state of minority, not only should minister what was needed
for her immediate instruction and improvement, but should also
furnish materials of edification and comfort for believers to the
end of time. If the earlier could not be made perfect without
the things belonging to the later Church,1 so neither, on the
other hand, can the later profitably or even safely dispense with
the advantage she may derive from the more simple and rudi-
mentary things that belonged to the earlier. The Church,
considered as God's nursery for training souls to a meetness
for immortal life and blessedness, is substantially the same
through all periods of her existence ; and the things which
were appointed for the behoof of her members in one a^e,
had in them also something of lasting benefit for those on
whom the ends of the world are come.2

It is further to be noted, that in this wrork of preparation
for the more perfect future, arrangements of a typical kind,
being of a somewhat recondite nature, necessarily occupied a
relative and subsidiary, rather than the primary and most
essential place. The Church enjoyed from the first the benefit
of direct and explicit instruction, imparted either immediately
by the hand of God, or through the instrumentality of His
accredited messengers. From this source she always derived
her knowledge of the more fundamental truths of religion, and
also her more definite expectations of the better things to come.
The fact is of importance, both as determining the proper place
of typical acts and institutions, and as indicating a kind of
extraneous and qualifying element, that must not be over-
looked in judging of the condition of believers under them.
1Heb. xi.40. 2 1 Cor. x. 6, 11.

NATUBE OF RITUAL TYPES. 73

Yet they were not, on that account, rendered less valuable or
necessary as constituent parts of a preparatory dispensation ;
for it was through them, as temporary expedients, and by
virtue of the resemblances they possessed to the higher things
in prospect, that the realities of Christ's kingdom obtained a
kind of present realization to the eye of faith. What, then.
was the nature of these resemblances ? Wherein precisely did
the similarity which formed more especially the preparatory
elements in the Old, as compared with the New, really lie '.
This is the point that mainly calls for elucidation.

II. It is the second point we were to investigate, as being
that which would necessarily require the most lengthened ami
careful examination. And the general statement we submit
respecting it is, that two things were here essentially necessary :
there must have been vi the Old the same great elements of truth as
in (he things they represented under the New; and then, in the
Old, these 77iust have been exhibited in a form more level to the

■■prehension, more easily and distinctly cognizable by the minds
of men.

1. There must have been, first, the same great elements of
truth, — for the mind of God and the circumstances of the fallen
creature are substantially the same at all times. What the
spiritual necessities of men now arc, they have been from the
time that bin entered into the world. Hence the truth revealed
by God to meet these necessities, however varying from time to
time in the precise amount of its communications, and however
differing also in the external form under which it might be pre-
sented, must have been, so far as disclosed, essentially one in
every age. For, otherwise, what anomalous results would fol-
low! If the principles unfolded in God's communications to
men, and on which lie regulates His dealings toward them, were
materially different atone period from what they are at another,
then either the wants and necessities of men's natural condition
11111.4 have undergone a change, or — these being the same, as
they undoubtedly are — the character of God must have altered.
lie cannot be the immutable Jehovah. Besides, the very idea
of a course of preparatory dispensations were, on the supposition
in question, manifestly excluded; since that could have had no

74 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTUPE.

proper ground to rest on, unless there was a deep-rooted and
fundamental agreement between what was merely provisional
and what was final and ultimate in the matter. The primary
and essential elements of truth, therefore, which are embodied
in the facts of the Gospel, and on which its economy of grace
is based, cannot, in the nature of things, be of recent origin —
as if they were altogether peculiar to the New Testament dis-
pensation, and had only begun with the entrance of it to obtain
a place in the government of God. On the contrary, their
existence must have formed the groundwork, and their varied
manifestation the progress, of any preparatory dispensations
that might be appointed. And whatever ulterior respect the
typical characters, actions, or institutions of those earlier dis-
pensations might carry to the coming realities of the Gospel,
their more immediate intention and use must have consisted in
the exhibition they gave of the vital and fundamental truths
common alike to all dispensations.

2. If a clear and conclusive certainty attaches to this part
of our statement, it does so in even an increased ratio to the
other. Holding that the same great elements of truth must of
necessity pervade both type and antitype, we must also assuredly
believe that in the former they were more simply and palpably
exhibited — presented in some shape in which the human mind
could more easily and distinctly apprehend them — than in the
latter. It would manifestly have been absurd to admit into a
course of preparation for the realities of the Gospel certain
temporary exhibitions of the same great elements of truth that
were to pervade these, unless the preparatory had been of more
obvious meaning, and of more easy comprehension, than the
ultimate and final. The transition from the one to the other
must clearly have involved a rise in the mode of exhibiting the
truth from a lower to a higher territory — from a form of de-
velopment more easily grasped, to a form which should put the
faculties of the mind to a greater stretch. For thus only could
it be wise or proper to set up preparatory dispensations at all.
These, manifestly, had been better spared, if the realities them-
selves lay more, or even so much, within the reach and compre-
hension of the mind, as their temporary and imperfect repre-
sentations.

NATURE OF RITUAL TYPES. 75

Hiding, then, on the foundation of these two principles, ns
irily forming the essential elements of the resemblance
that subsisted between the Old and the New in God's dispensa-
tions, we may now proceed to consider how far they can legiti-
mately carry in in explaining the subject in hand; or, in other
words, to answer the question, how on such a basis the typical
things of the past could properly serve as preparatory arran
ments for the higher and better things of the future? We
shall endeavour to answer this question, in the first instance, by
making application of our principles to the symbolical institutions
of the Mosaic dispensation, which are usually denominated the

ml or legal types. For, in respect to these we have the
advantage of the most explicit assertion in Scripture of their
typical character; and we are also furnished with certain
general descriptions of their nature as typical, which may
partly serve as lights to direct our inquiries, and partly provide
a test by which to try the correctness of their results.

Now, viewing the institutions of the dispensation brought in
by Moses as typical, we look at them in what may be called
their secondary aspect ; we consider them as prophetic symbols
of the belter things to come in the Gospel, lint this evidently
implies that in another and more immediate respect they were
merely symbols, that is, outward and Bensible representations of
divine truth, in connection with an existing dispensation and a
religions worship. It was only from their being this, in the one

pect, that they could, in the other, be prophetic symbols, or
types, of what was afterwards to appear under the (Jospel ; on
the ground already stated, that the preparatory dispensation to
which they belonged was necessarily inwrought with the same

at elements of truth which were afterwards, in another form,
to pervade the Christian. Had there not been the identity in
the truths here' supposed, assimilating, amid all outward diversi-

-, the two dispensations in spirit to each other, the earlier
would rather have blocked up than prepared and opened the
way for the latter. A partial exhibition of a truth, or an em-
bodiment of it in things comparatively little, easily grasped by
the understanding, and but imperfectly satisfying the mind, may
e. itaiiily make way for its exhibition in a manner more fully
adapted to its proper nature : — The mind thus familiarized to

76 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

it in the little, may both have the desire created and the capacity
formed for beholding its development in things of a far higher
and nobler kind. But a partial or defective representation of
an object, apart from any principles common to both, must
rather tend to pre-occupy the mind, and either entirely pi'event
it from anticipating, or fill it with mistaken and prejudiced
notions of the reality. If such a representation of the mere
objects of the Gospel had been all that was aimed at in the
symbolical institutions of the Old Testament — if their direct,
immediate, and only use had been to serve, as pictures, to
prefigure and presentiate to the soul the future realities of the
divine kingdom — then who could wonder if these realities should
have been wholly lost sight of before, or misbelieved and re-
pudiated when they came ? For, in that case, the preparatory
dispensation must have been far more difficult for the wor-
shipper than the ultimate one. The child must have had a
much harder lesson to read, and a much higher task to accom-
plish, than the man of full-grown and ripened intellect. And
divine wisdom must have employed its resources, not to smooth
the Church's path to an enlightened view and a believing recep-
tion of the realities of the Gospel, but rather to shroud them in
the most profound and perplexing obscurities.

Every serious and intelligent believer will shrink from this
conclusion. But if he does so, he will soon find that there is
only one way of effectually escaping from it, and that is, by
regarding the symbolical institutions of the Old Covenant as
not simply or directly representations of the realities of the
Gospel, but in the first instance as parts of an existing dispensa-
tion, and, as such, expressive of certain great and fundamental
truths, which could even then be distinctly understood and
embraced. This was what might be called their more immediate
and ostensible design. Their further and prospective reference
to the higher objects of the Gospel, was of a more indirect and
occult nature ; and stood in the same essential truths being
exhibited by means of present and visible, but inferior and
comparatively inadequate objects. So that, in tracing out the
connection from the one to the other, we must always begin
with inquiring, What, per se, was the native import of each
symbol? What truths did it symbolize merely as part of an

NATURE OF RITUAL TYPES. < <

existing religion 1 and from this proceed to unfold how it was
fitted to serve as a guide and a stepping-stone to the glorious
events and issues of Messiah's kingdom. This — which it was
the practice of the elder typological writers in great measure
to overlook — is really the foundation of the whole matter ; and
without it every typological system must either contract itself
within wry narrow bounds, or be in danger of diverging into
superficial or fanciful analogi The Mosaic ritual had at

once a shell and a kernel, — its shell, the outward rites and
observances it enjoined; its kernel, the spiritual relations which
these indicated, and the spiritual truths which they embodied
and expressed. Substantially these truths and relations were,
and must have been the same for the Old that they are for the
New Testament worshippers, having in each the same wants
and necessities to meet, and the same God condescending to
meet them. There^ therefore, in that fundamental agreement,
that internal and pre-established harmony of principle, we are
to find the bond of union between the symbolical institutions of
Judaism and the permanent realities of Messiah's kingdom.
( )ne truth in both — but that truth existing first in a lower, then
in a higher stage of development ; in the one case appearing as
a precious bud embosomed and but partially seen amid the
imperfect relations of flesh and time ; in the other, expanding
If under the bright sunshine of heaven into all the beauty
and fruitfnlness of which it was susceptible.

To make our meaning perfectly undersl 1, however, we

must descend from the general to the particular, and apply
what has been stated to a special case. In doing so, we shall
at once to what may justly be termed the very core of the
religion of the Old Covenant — the rite of expiatory sacrifice.
That this was typically or prophetically symbolical of the death
of Christ, is testified with much plainness and frequency in
New Testament Scripture. Set, independently of this con-
nection with Christ's death, it had a meaning of its own, which
it was possible for the ancient worshipper to understand, and,
tanding, to present through it an acceptal "vice

to God, whether he might perceive or not tin; further re8pect
it bore to a dying Saviour. It was in its own nature a
symbolical transaction, embodying a threefold idea: first, that

78 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the worshipper, having been guilty of sin, had forfeited his
life to God ; then, that the life so forfeited must be surrendered
to divine justice ; and finally, that being surrendered in the
way appointed, it was given back to him again by God, or he
became re-established, as a justified person, in the divine
favour and fellowship. How far a transaction of this kind,
done symbolically and not really — by means of an irrational
creature substituted in the sinner's room, and unconsciously
devoted to lose its animal in lieu of his intelligent and rational
life — might commend itself as altogether satisfactory to his
view ; or how far he might see reason to regard it as but a
provisional arrangement, proceeding on the contemplation of
something more perfect yet to come ; — these are points which
might justly be raised, and will indeed call for future discus-
sion, but they are somewhat extraneous to the subject itself
now under consideration. We are viewing the rite of expiatory
sacrifice simply as a constituent part of ancient worship, — a
religious service which formally, and without notification from
itself of anything further being required, presented the sinner
with the divinely appointed means of reconciliation and restored
fellowship with God. In this respect it symbolically repre-
sented, as we have said, a threefold idea, which if properly
understood and realized by the worshipper, he performed, in
offering it, an acceptable service. And when we rise from
the symbolical to the typical view of the transaction — when
we proceed to consider the rite of expiation as bearing a
prospective reference to the redemption of Christ, we are
not to be understood as ascribing to it some new sense or
meaning ; we merely express our belief that the complex
capital idea which it so impressively symbolized, finds its only
true, as from the first its destined, realization in the work of
salvation by Jesus Christ. For in Ilhn alone was there a real
transference of man's guilt to one able and willing to bear
it ; in His death alone, the surrender of a life to God, such
as could fitly stand in the room of that forfeited by the sinner;
and in faith alone on that death, a full and conscious appro-
priation of the life of peace and blessing obtained by Him for
the justified. So that here only it is we perceive the idea of
a true, sufficient, and perfect sacrifice converted into a living

NATUEE OF RITUAL TYPES. 79

lity — such as the holy eye of God, and the troubled con-
science of man, can alike repose in with unmingled Batisfacti >n.

And while there appear precisely the same elements of truth
in the ever-recurring sacrifices of the Old Testament, and in

the one perfect sacrifice of the New, it is seen, at the same
time, that what the one symbolically represented, the other
actually possessed j what the one could only exhibit as a kind
of acted lesson for the present relief of guilty consciences, the
other makes, known to us, as a work finally and for ever accom-
plished for all who believe in the propitiation of the cr<

The view now given of the symbolical institutions of the
Old Testament, as prophetic symbols of the realities of the
Gospel, is in perfect accordance with the general descriptions
we have of their nature in Scripture itself. These are of two
classes. In the one they are declared to have been shadows
of the better things of the Gospel ; as in Ileb. x. 1, where the
law is said to have had 'a shadow, and not the very image of
good things to come;' in ch. viii. 5, where the priests are
described as 'serving unto the example (copy) and shadow of
heavenly things ;' and again in Col. ii. 1G, where the fleshly
ordinances in one mass are denominated 'shadows of go I
things to come,' while it is added, 'the body is of Christ.'
Now, that the tabernacle, with the ordinances of every kind
belonging to it, were shadows of Christ and the blessings of
His kingdom, can only mean that they were obscure and
imperfect resemblances of these ; or that they embodied the
same elements of divine truth, but wanted what was necessary
to give them proper form and consistence as parts of a final
and abiding dispensation of God. And when we go to inquire
wherein did the obscurity and imperfection consist, we are
always referred to the carnal and earthly nature of the Old
:is compared with the New. The tabernacle itself was a
material fabric, constructed of such things as this present
world could supply, and hence called ' a worldly sanctuary;'
while its counterpart under the Gospel is the eternal region
of God's presence and glory, neither discernible by fleshly i
nor made by mortal hands. In like manner, the ordinances
of worship connected with the tabernacle were all ostensibly
directed to the preservation of men's present existence, or the

80 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

advancement of their well-beinrj as related to an outward
sanctuary and a terrestrial commonwealth ; while in the Gos-
pel it is the soul's relation to the sanctuary above, and its pos-
session of an immortal life of blessedness and glory, which
all is directly intended to provide for. In these differences
between the Old and the New, which bespeak so much of
inferiority on the part of the former, we perceive the darkness
and imperfection which hung around the things of the ancient
dispensation, and rendered them shadows only of those which
were to come. But still shadows are resemblances. Though
unlike in one respect, they must be like in another. And as
the unlikeness stood in the dissimilar nature of the things
immediately handled and perceived — in the different materiel,
so to speak, of the two dispensations, wherein should the
resemblance be found but in the common truths and relations
alike pervading both? By means of an earthly tabernacle,
with its appropriate services, God manifested toward His
people the same principles of government, and required from
them substantially the same disposition and character, that He
does now under the higher dispensation of the Gospel. For,
look beyond the mere outward diversities, and what do you see?
You see in both alike a pure and holy God, enshrined in the
recesses of a glorious sanctuary, unapproachable by sinful flesh
but through a medium of powerful intercession and cleansing
efficacy ; yet, when so approached, ever ready to receive and
bless with the richest tokens of His favour and loving-kindness
as many as come in the exercise of genuine contrition for sin,
and longing for restored fellowship with Him whom they have
offended. The same description applies equally to the service
of both dispensations ; for in both the same impressions are
conveyed of God's character respecting sin and holiness, and
the same gracious feelings necessarily awakened by them in
the bosom of sincere worshippers. But, then, as to the means
of accomplishing this, there was only, in the one case, a
shadowy exhibition of spiritual things through earthly materials
and temporary expedients ; while in the other the naked reali-
ties appear in the one perfect sacrifice of Christ, the rich
endowments of the Spirit of grace, and the glories of an
everlasting kingdom.

NATURE OF RITUAL TYPES. 81

The Other genera] description given in New Testament
Scripture of the prophetic symbols or types of the Old dis-
pensation does not materially differ from the one now con-
sidered, and, when rightly understood, leads to the same result.
According to it, the religious institutions of earlier times con-
taineel the rudiments or elementary principles of the world's
religious truth and life. Thus, in Col. ii. 20, the now antiquated
ordinances of Judaism are called 'the rudiments of the world;'
and in Gal. iv. 3, the Church, while under these ordinances,
is said to have been ' in bondage under the elements (or
rudiments) of the world.' The expression, also, which is found
in ch. iii. 24 of this Epistle to the Galatians, ' the law was our
pedagogue to bring us to Christ,' conveys much the same idea ;
since it was the special business of the ancient pedagogue to
train the youth to proper habits, and, without himself imparting
more than the merest elements of learning, to conduct him to
those who were qualified to give it. The law did this for such
as were placed under it, by means of its symbolical institutions
and ordinances, which at once conveyed to the understanding
a measure of instruction, and trained and disciplined the will.
It was from its very nature imperfect, and pointed to some-
thing higher and better. Believers were kept by it in a kind
of bondage, but one which, by its formative and elevating
character, was ever ripening its subjects for a state in which
it should no more be needed. It was only necessary that the
light so imparted should be received, and the mode of life
enjoined be sincerely followed, in order that the disciple of
Moses might pass with intelligence and delight from his rudi-
mental tutelage, under the shadows of good things, into the free
use and enjoyment of the things themselves.

The general descriptions, then, given of the symbolical
institutions and services of the Old Testament, in their rela-
tion to the Gospel, perfectly accord with the principles we have
advanced. And viewed in the light now presented, we at once
see the essential unity that subsists between the Old and the
New dispensations, and the nature of that progression in the
divine plan which rendered the one a fitting preparation and
Btepping-stone to the other. In its fundamental elements the
religion of both covenants is thus found to be identical. Only

\ <>l. i. r

82 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

it appears under the Old Covenant as on a lower platform, dis-
closing its ideas and imparting its blessings through the imper-
fect instrumentalities of fleshly relations and temporal concerns ;
while under the New everything rises heavenwards, and eternal
realities come distinctly and prominently into view. But as
ideas and relations are more palpable to the mind, and lie more
within the grasp of its comprehension, when exhibited on a
small scale, in corporeal forms, amid familiar and present objects,
than on a scale of large dimensions, which stretches into the
unseen, and embraces alike the divine and human, time and
eternity ; so the economy of outward symbolical institutions was
in itself simpler than the Gospel, and, as a lower exhibition
of divine truth, prepared the way for a higher. But they did
this, let it be observed, in their character merely as symbolical
institutions, or parts of a dispensation then existing, not as
typically foreshadowing the things belonging to a higher and
more spiritual dispensation yet to come. It was comparatively
an easy thing for the Jewish worshipper to understand how,
from time to time, he stood related to a visible sanctuary and
an earthly inheritance, or to go through the process of an ap-
pointed purification by means of water and the blood of slain
victims applied externally to his body, — much more easy than
for the Christian to apprehend distinctly his relation to a
heavenly sanctuary, and realize the cleansing of his conscience
from all guilt by the inward application of the sacrifice of
Christ and the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit. But for
the Jewish worshipper to do both his own and the Christian's
part, — both to read the meaning of the symbol as expressive of
what was already laid open to his view, and to descry its con-
cealed reference to the yet undiscovered realities of a better
dispensation, — would have required a reach of discernment
and a strength of faith far beyond what is now needed in the
Christian. For this had been, not like him to discern the
heavenly, when the heavenly had come, but to do it amid the
obscurities and imperfections of the earthly ; not simply to look
with open eye into the deeper mysteries of God's kingdom,
when these mysteries are fully disclosed, but to do so while
they were still buried amid the thick folds of a cumbrous and
overshadowing drapery.

NATURE OF RITUAL TYPES. 83

5 • t let us not he mistaken. We speak merely of what was
strictly required, and what might ordinarily he expected of the
ancient worshipper, in connection with the institutions and ser-
vices of his symlxjlical religion, taken simply by themselves.
We do not say that there never was, much less that there conil
not be, any proper insight obtained by the children of the Old
Covenant into the future mysteries of the Gospel. There were
special giftfl of grace then, as well as now, occasionally imparted
to the more spiritual members of the covenant, which enabled
them to rise to unusual decrees of knowledge: and it is a dis-
tinctive property of the spiritual mind generally to be dissatisfied
with the imperfect, to seek and long for the perfect. Even
now, when the comparatively perfect has come, what spiritual
mind is not often conscious to itself of a feeling akin to melan-
choly, when it thinks of the yet abiding darkness and disorders
of the present, or does not fondly cling to every hopeful indica-
tion of a brighter future ? But even the best things of the Old
Covenant bore on them the stamp of imperfection. The temple
itself, which was the peculiar glory and ornament of Israel, still
in a very partial and defective manner realized its own grand
idea of a people dwelling with God, and God dwelling with
them ; and hence, because of that inherent imperfection, it was
distinctly intimated, a higher and better mode of accomplishing
the object should one day take its place.1 So, too, the palpable
disproportion already noticed in the rite of expiatory sacrifice
between the rational life forfeited through sin, and the merely
animal life substituted in its room, seemed to proclaim the
necessity of a more adequate atonement for human guilt, and
could not but dispose intelligent worshippers to give more
earnest heed to the announcements of prophecy regarding the
coining purposes of Heaven. But yet, when we have admitted
all this, it by no means follows that the people of God gene-
rally, under the Old Covenant, could attain to very definite
views of the realities of the Gospel ; nor does it furnish us with
any reason for asserting that such views must ever of necessity
have mingled with the service of an acceptable worshipper.
For his was the worship of a preparatory dispensation. It
must, therefore, have been simpler and easier than what was

1 Jer. iii. 1G, 17.

84 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

ultimately to supplant it. And this, we again repeat, it couli
only be by being viewed in its more obvious and formal aspect,
as the worship of an existing religion, which provided for the
time then present a fitting medium of access to God, and hal-
lowed intercourse with heaven. The man who humbly availed
himself of what was thus provided to meet his soul's necessities,
stood in faith, and served God with acceptance, — though still
with such imperfections in the present, and such promises for
the future, that the more always he reflected, he would become
the more a child of desire and hope.1

We have spoken as yet only of the symbolical institutions
and services of the Old Testament; and of these quite gene-
rally, as one great whole. For it is carefully to be noted, that
the scriptural designations of rudiments and shadows, which we
have shown to be the same as typical when properly understood,
are applied to the entire mass of the ancient ordinances in their
prospective reference to Gospel realities. And yet, while New
Testament Scripture speaks thus of the whole, it deals very
sparingly in particular examples ; and if it furnishes, in its
language and allusions, many valuable hints to direct inquiry, it
still contains remarkably few detailed illustrations. It nowhere

1 If any one will take the trouble to look into the elder writers, who
formally examined the typical character of the ancient symbolical institu-
tions, he will find them entirely silent in regard to the points chiefly dwelt
upon in the above discussion. Lowman, for example, On the Rational of
the Hebrew Worship, and Outram, de Sac, lib. i. c. 18, where he comes to
consider the nature and force of a type, gave no proper or satisfactory
explanation of the questions, wherein precisely did the resemblance stand
between the type and the antitype, or how should the one have prepared
the way for the other. We are told frequently enough that the ' Hebrew
ritual contained a plan, or sketch, or pattern, or shadow of Gospel things ; '
that ' the type adumbrated the antitype by something of the same sort with
that which is found in the antitype,' or 'by a symbol of it,' or 'by a
slender and shadowy image of it,' or ' by something that may somehow be
compared with it,' etc. But we look in vain for anything more specific.
Townley, in his Reasons of the Laivs of Moses, still advances no further in
the dissertation he devotes to the Typical Character of the Mosaic Institu-
tions. Even Olshausen, in the treatise formerly noticed (Ein Wort iiber
tiefern Schriftsinn), when he comes to unfold what he calls his deeper expo-
sition, confines himself to a brief illustration of the few general statements
formerly mentioned. See p. 56.

NATUBE OF RITUAL TYPES. 85

tells us, for example, what was either immediately symbolized
or prophetically shadowed forth, by the Holy Place in the
tabernacle, or the shew-bread, or the golden candlestick, or the
ark of the covenant, or, indeed, by anything connected with the
tabernacle, excepting its more prominent offices and ministra-
tions. Even the Epistle to the Hebrews, which enters with such
comparative fulness into the connection between the Old and the
New, and which is most express in ascribing a typical value to
all that belonged to the tabernacle, can yet scarcely be said to
give any detailed explanation of its furniture and services beyond
the rite of expiatory sacrifice, and the action of the high priest in
presenting it, more particularly on the great day of atonement.
So that those who insist on an explicit warrant and direction
from Scripture in regard to each particular type, will find their
principle conducts them but a short way even through that
department, which, they are obliged to admit, possesses through-
out a typical character. A general admission of this sort can
be of little use, if one is restrained on principle from touching
most of the particulars ; one might as well maintain that these
stood entirely disconnected from any typical property. So,
indeed, Bishop Marsh has substantially done ; for, ' that such
explanations/ he says, referring to particular types, ' are in
various instances given in the New Testament, no one can deny.
And if it was deemed necessary to explain one type, where could
be the expediency or moral fitness of withholding the explana-
tion of others ? Must not, therefore, the silence of the New
Testament in the case of any supposed type, be an argument
against the existence of that type?'1 Undoubtedly, we reply,
if the Scriptures of the New Testament professed to illustrate
the whole field of typical matter in God's ancient dispensations ;
but by no means if, as is really the case, they only take it up in
detached portions, by way of occasional example; and still less,
if the effect would be practically to exclude from the character
of types many of the very institutions and services which are
declared to have been all ' shadows of good things to come,
whereof the- body is Christ.' How we ought to proceed in
applying the general views that have been unfolded to the
interpretation of such parts of the Old Testament symbols as

' Lecture*, p ! 9

86 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

have not been explained in New Testament Scripture, will no
doubt require careful consideration. But that we are both
warranted and bound to give them a Christian interpretation, is
manifest from the general character that is ascribed to them.
And the fact that so much of what was given to Moses as ' a
testimony (or evidence) of those things which were to be spoken
after' in Christ, remains without any particular explanation in
Scripture, sufficiently justifies us in expecting that there may
also be much that is typical, though not expressly declared to be
such, in the other, the historical department of the subject,
which we now proceed to investigate.

CHAPTER THIRD.

Tin: PBOPEB NATURE AND PROVINCE OF TYPOLOGY. — 2. THE
HISTORICAL CHARACTERS AND TRANSACTIONS OF HIE OLD
3TAMENT, VIEWED AS EXEMPLIFYING THE DISTINCTIVE
i HARA4 rERSOFA rYPICAL RELATIONSHIP — TYPICAL FORMS
IN NATURE — NECESSITY OF THE TYPICAL AS A PREPARA-
TION FOIi THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES.

In the preceding chapter we have seen in what sense the reli-
gious institutions and services of the Old Covenant were typical.
They were constructed and arranged so as to express symbolically
the great truths and principles of a spiritual religion — truths and
principles which were common alike to Old and New Testament
times, but which, from the nature of things, could only find in
the New their proper development and full realization. On the
limited scale of the earthly and perishable — in the construction
of a material tabernacle, and the suitable adjustment of bodily
ministrations and sacrificial offerings — there was presented a
palpable exhibition of those great truths respecting sin and
salvation, the purification of the heart, and the dedication of
the person and the life to God, which in the fulness of time
were openly revealed and manifested on the grand scale of a
world's redemption, by the mediation and work of Jesus Christ.
In that pre-arranged and harmonious, but still inherently de-
fective and imperfect, exhibition of the fundamental ideas and
spiritual relations of the Gospel, stood the real nature of its
typical character.

Nor, we may add, was there anything arbitrary in so em-
ploying the things of flesh and time to shadow forth, under a
preparatory dispensation, the higher realities of God's everlasting
kingdom. It has its ground and reason in the organic arrange-
ments or appearances of the material world. For these are so
framed as to be ever giving forth representations of divine truth,
and are a kind of ceaseless regeneration, in which, through

«7

88 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

successive stages, new and higher forms of being are continually
springing out of the lower. It is on this constitution of nature
that the figurative language of Scripture is based. And it was
only building on a foundation that already existed, and which
stretches far and wide through the visible territory of creation,
when the outward relations and fleshly services of a symbolical
religion were made to image and prepare for the more spiritual
and divine mysteries of Messiah's kingdom. Hence, also, some
of the more important symbolical institutions were expressly
linked (as we shall see) to appropriate seasons and aspects of
nature.

But was symbol alone thus employed ? Might there not also
have been a similar employment of many circumstances and
transactions in the province of sacred history % If the revela-
tion of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the blessings of His great
salvation, was the object mainly contemplated by God from the
beginning of the world, and with which the Church was ever
travailing as in birth, — if, consequently, the previous dispensa-
tions were chiefly designed to lead to, and terminate upon,
Christ and the things of His salvation, — what can be more
natural than to suppose that the evolutions of Providence
throughout the period during which the salvation was in pro-
spect, should have concurred with the symbols of worship in
imaging and preparing for what was to come ? It is possible,
indeed, that the connection here between the past and the
future might be somewhat more varied and fluctuating, and
in several respects less close and exact, than in the case of a
regulated system of symbolical instruction and worship, ap-
pointed to last till it was superseded by the better things of the
New dispensation. This is only what might be expected from
the respective natures of the subjects compared. But that a
connection, similar in kind, had a place in the one as well as in
the other, we hold to be not only in itself probable, but also
capable .of being satisfactorily established. And for the purpose
of showing this we lay down the following positions : — First,
That the historical relations and circumstances recorded in the
Old Testament, and typically applied in the New, had very
much both the same resemblances and defects in respect to the
realities of the Gospel, which we have found to belong to the

HISTORICAL TYPES. 89

am-icnt symbolical institutions of worship ; secondly, that such
historical types were absolutely necessary, in considerable num-
ber and variety, to render the earlier dispensations thoroughly
preparative in respect to the coming dispensation of the Gospel ;
and, thirdly, that Old Testament Scripture itself contains un-
doubted indications, that much of its historical matter stood
related to some higher ideal, in which the truths and relations
mplified in them were again to meet and receive a new but
more perfect development.

I. The first consideration is, that the historical relations and
circumstances recorded in the Old Testament, and typically
interpreted in the New, had very much the same resemblances
and defects in respect to the Gospel which we have found to
belong to the ancient symbolical institutions of worship. Thus
• — to refer to one of the earliest events in the world's history so
interpreted — the general deluge that destroyed the old world, and
preserved Noah and his family alive, is represented as standing
in a typical relation to Christian baptism.1 It did so, as will be
explained more at large hereafter, from its having destroyed
those who by their corruptions destroyed the earth, and saved
for a new world the germ of a better race. Doing this in the
outward and lower territory of the world's history, it served
substantially the same purpose that Christian baptism does in
a higher ; since this is designed to brinjr the individual that
receives it under those vital influences that purge away the
corruption of a fleshly nature, and cause the seed of a divine life
to take root and grow for the occupation of a better inheritance.
In like manner Sarah, with her child of promise, the special and
peculiar gift of Heaven, and Ilagar, with her merely natural and
fleshly offspring, are explained as typically foreshadowing, the
one a spiritual Church, bringing forth real children to God, in
spirit and destiny as well as in calling, the heirs of His everlast-
ing kingdom ; the other, a worldly and corrupt Church, wl
members are in bondage to the flesh, having hut a name to live.
while they are dead."' In such cases, it is clear that the same
kind of resemblances, coupled also with the same kind of
differences, appear between the preparatory and the final, as in
1 l Pet iii. 21. -' Gal. Lv. 22, 81.

SO THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the case of the symbolical types. For here also the ideas and
relations are substantially one in the two associated transactions ;
only in the earlier they appear ostensibly connected with the
theatre of an earthly existence, and with respect to seen and
temporal results ; while in the later it is the higher field of
grace and the interests of a spiritual and immortal existence that
come directly into view.

Or, let the use be considered that is made of the events
which befell the Israelites on their way to the land of Canaan,
ns regards the state and prospects of the Church of the New
Testament on its way to heaven. Look at this, for example, as
unfolded in the third and fourth chapters of the Epistle to the
Hebrews, and the essential features of a typical connection will
at once be seen. For the exclusion of those carnal and unbe-
lieving Israelites who fell in the wilderness is there exhibited,
not only as affording a reasonable presumption, but as providing
a valid ground, for asserting that persons similarly affected now
toward the kingdom of glory cannot attain to heaven. Indeed,
so complete in point of principle is the identity of the two
cases, that the same expressions are applied to both alike, with-
out intimation of any differences existing between them : ' the
Gospel is preached' to the one class as well as to the other;
God gives to each alike ' a promise of rest,' while they equally
' fall through unbelief,' having hardened their hearts against
the word of God. Yet there were the same differences in kind
as we have noted between the type and the antitype in the sym-
bolical institutions of worship — the visible and earthly being
employed in the one to exhibit such relations and principles as
in the other appear in immediate connection with what is
spiritual and heavenly. In the type we have the prospect of
Canaan, the Gospel of an earthly promise of rest, and, because
not believed, issuing in the loss of a present life of honour and
blessing ; in the antitype, the prospect of a heavenly inheritance,
the Gospel promise of an everlasting rest, bringing along with
it, when treated with unbelief and neglect, an exclusion from
eternal blessedness and glory.

Again, and with reference to the same period in the Church's
history, it is said in John iii. 14, 15, l As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up,

HISTORICAL TYPES. 91

that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.' The language here certainly does not neces-
sarily betoken by any means so close a connection between the
( )ld and the New as in the cases previously referred to ; nor are
we disposed to assert that the same connection in all respects
really existed. The historical transaction in this case had at
first sight the aspect of something occasional and isolated, rather
than of an integral and essential part of a great plan. And yet
the reference in John, viewed in connection with other passages
of Scripture bearing on the subject, sufficiently vindicates for it
a place among the earlier exhibitions of divine truth, planned by
the foreseeing eye of God with special respect to the coming
realities of the Gospel. As such it entirely accords in nature
with the typical prefigurations already noticed. In the two
related transactions there is a fitting correspondence as to the
relations maintained : in both alike a wounded and dying con-
dition in the first instance ; then the elevation of an object, ap-
parently inadequate, yet really effectual, to accomplish the cure,
and this through no other medium on the part of the affected
than their simply looking to the object so presented to their
view. But with this pervading correspondence, wdiat marked
and distinctive characteristics ! In the one case a dying body,
in the other a perishing soul ! There, an uplifted serpent — of
all instruments of healing from a serpent's bite the most unlikely
to profit; here, the exhibition of one condemned and crucified
as a malefactor — of all conceivable persons apparently the most
impotent to save. There, once more, the fleshly eye of nature
deriving from the outward object visibly presented to it the heal-
ing virtue it was ordained to impart ; and here the spiritual eye
of the soul, looking in stedfast faith to the exalted Redeemer, and
getting the needed supplies of His life-giving and regenerating
grace. In both, the same elements of truth, the same modes of
dealing; but in the one developing themselves on a lower, in the
other on a higher territory : in the former having immediate
respect only to things seen and temporal, and in the latter to
what is unseen, spiritual, and eternal. And when it is con-
sidered how the divine procedure in the case of the Israelites
was in itself so extraordinary and peculiar, so unlike God's
usual methods of dealing in providence, in so far as these have

92 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

•

respect merely to inferior and perishable interests, it seems to
be without any adequate reason — to want, in a sense, its just
explanation, until it is viewed as a dispensation specially de-
signed to prepare the way for the higher and better things of
the Gospel.

Similar explanations might be given of the other historical
facts recorded in Old Testament Scripture, and invested with a
typical reference in the New. But enough has been said to
show the essential similarity in the respect borne by them to the
better things of the Gospel, and of that borne by the ritual
types of the law. The ground of the connection in the one
class, precisely as in the other, stands in the substantial oneness
of the ideas and relations pervading the earlier and the later
transactions, as corresponding parts of related dispensations ; or
in the identity of truth and principle appearing in both, as dif-
ferent yet mutually depending parts of one great providential
scheme. In that internal agreement and relationship, rather
than in any mere outward resemblances, we are to seek the real
bond of connection between the Old and the New.

At first sight, perhaps, a connection of this nature may
appear to want something of what is required to satisfy the
conditions of a proper typical relationship. And there are two
respects more especially in which this deficiency may seem to
exist.

1. It has been so much the practice to look at the connection
between the Old and the New in an external aspect, that one
naturally fancies the necessity of some more palpable and arbi-
trary bond of union to link together type and antitype. The
one is apt to be thought of as a kind of pre-ordained pantomime
of the other — like those prefigurative actions which the prophets
were sometimes instructed, whether in reality or in vision, to
perform,1 meaningless in themselves, yet very significant as
foreshadowing intimations of coming events in providence.
Such prophecies in action, certainly, had something in common
with the typical transactions now under consideration. They
both alike had respect to other actions or events yet to come,
without which, pre-ordained and foreseen, they would not have
taken place. They both also stood in a similar relation of
1 As Isaiah in ch. xx., or Ezekicl in ch. xii.

HISTORICAL TYPES. 93

littleness to the corresponding circumstances they foreshadowed
— exhibiting on a comparatively small scale what was afterwards
to realize itself on a large one, and thereby enabling the mind
more readily to anticipate the approaching future, or more dis-
tinctly to grasp it after it had come. But they differed in this,
that the typical actions of the prophets had respect solely to the
coming transactions they prefigured, and but for these would
have been foolish and absurd ; while the typical actions of God's
providence, as well as the symbolical institutions of His wor-
ship, had a moral meaning of their own, independently of the
reference they bore to the future revelations of the Gospel. To
overlook this independent moral element, is to leave out of
account what should be held to constitute the very basis of the
connection between the past and the future. But if, on the
other hand, due weight is allowed to that element, there is
formed a connection which, in reality, is of a much more close
and vital nature, and one, too, of far higher importance than
if it consisted alone in points of outward resemblance. For
it implies not only that the entire plan of salvation was all
along in the eye of God, but that, with a view to it, lie was
ever directing His government, so as to bring out in successive
stages and operations the very truths and principles which were
to find in the realities of the Gospel their more complete mani-
festation, lie showed that He saw the end from the beinnninu,
by interweaving with His providential arrangements the ele-
ments of the more perfect, the terminal plan. And therefore,
to lay the groundwork of the connection between the prepara-
tory and the final in the elements of truth and principle common
alike to both, instead of placing it in merely formal resem-
blances, is but to withdraw it from a less to a more vital and
important part of the transactions — from the outer shell and
appearance to the inner truth and substance of the history ; so
that we can discern, not only some perceptible coincidences
between the type and the antitype, but the same fundamental
character, the same spirit of life, the same moral import and
practical design.

To render this more manifest, as it is a point of considerable
moment to our inquiry, let us compare an alleged example of
historical type, where the resemblance between it and the sup-

94 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

posed antitype is of an ostensible, but still only of an outward
kind, with one of those referred to above — the brazen serpent
for example, or the deluge. In this latter example there was
scarcely any outward resemblance presented to the Christian
ordinance of baptism ; as in no proper sense could Noah ami
his family be said to have been literally baptized in the waters.
But both this and the other historical transaction presented
strong lines of resemblance, of a more inward and substantial
kind, to the things connected with them in the Gospel — such as
enable us to recognise without difficulty the impress of one
divine hand in the two related series of transactions, and to
contemplate them as corresponding parts of one grand economy,
rising gradually from its lower to its higher stages of develop-
ment. Take, however, as an example of the other class, the
occupation of Abel as a shepherd, which by many — among
others by Witsius — has been regarded as a prefiguration of
Christ in His character as the great Shepherd of Israel. A
superficial likeness, we admit; but what is to be found of real
unity and agreement ? What light does the one throw upon
the other? What expectation beforehand could the earlier
beget of the later, or what confirmation afterwards can it supply ?
Admitting that the death of Abel somehow foreshadowed the
infinitely more precious blood to be shed on Calvary, what dis-
tinctive value could the sacrifice of life in His case derive from
the previous occupation of the martyr? Christ certainly died
as the spiritual shepherd of souls, but Abel was not murdered
on account of having been a keeper of sheep ; nor had his death
any necessary connection with his having followed such an
employment. For what purpose, then, press points of resem-
blance so loosely associated, and dignify them with the name
of typical prefigurations ? Resemblances in such a case are
worthless even if real, and from their nature incapable of afford-
ing any insight into the mind and purposes of God. But
when, on the contrary, we look into the past records of God's
providence, and find there, in the dealings of His hand and
the institutions of His worship, a coincidence of principle and
economical design with what appears in the dispensation of the
Gospel, we cannot but feel that we have something of real
weight and importance for the mind to rest upon. And if,

HISTORICAL TYPES 95

further, we have reason to conclude, not only that agreements
of this kind existed, but that they were all skilfully planned
and arranged, — the earlier with a view to the later, the earthly
and temporal fur the spiritual and heavenly, — we find ourselves
possessed of the essential elements of a typical connection.

2. But granting what has now been stated, — allowing that
the connection between type and antitype is more of an internal
than of an external kind, — it may still be objected, in regard
to the historical types, that they wanted for the most part
something of the necessary correspondence with the antitypes:
the one did not occupy under the Old the same relative place
that the other did under the New — existing for a time as a
shadow, until it was superseded and displaced by the substance.
Perhaps not ; but is such a close and minute correspondence
absolutely necessary ? Or is it to be found even in the case
of all the symbolical types? With them also considerable
differences appear; and we look in vain for anything like a
fixed and absolute uniformity. The correspondence assumed
the most exact form in the sacrificial rites of the tabernacle
worship. There, certainly, part may be said to have answered
to part : there was priest for priest, offering for offering, death
for death, and blessing for blessing — throughout, an inferior
and temporary substitute in the room of the proper reality, and
continuing till it was superseded and displaced by the latter.
We find a relaxation, however, in this closely adjusted relation-
ship, whenever we leave the immediate province of sacrifice ;
and in many of the things expressly denominated shadows of
the Gospel, it can hardly be said to have existed. In regard,
for example, to the ancient festivals, the new moons, the use
or disuse of leaven, the defilement of leprosy and its purifica-
tion, there was no such precise and definite superseding of the
Old by something corresponding under the New — nothing like
office for office, action for action, part for part. The sym-
bolical rites and institutions referred to were typical —not,
however, as representing things that were to hold specifically
and palpably the same place in Gospel times, hut rather as
embodying, in set forms and ever-recurring bodily Bervices, the
truths and principles that, in naked simplicity and by direct
teaching, were to pervade the dispensation of the Gospel.

96 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

There is a quite similar diversity in the case of the historical
types. In some of them the correspondence was very close and
exact, in others more loose and general. Of the former class
was the calling of Israel as an elect people, their relation to
the land of Canaan as their covenant portion, their redemption
from the yoke of Egypt, and their temporary sojourn in the
wilderness as they travelled to inherit it — all of which con-
tinued (the two latter by means of commemorative ordinances)
till they were superseded by corresponding but higher objects
under the Gospel. In respect to these we can say, the New
dispensation presents people for people, redemption for redemp-
tion, inheritance for inheritance, and one kind of wilderness-
training for another; objects in both precisely corresponding
as regards the places they respectively held, and the one pre-
serving their existence or transmitting their efficacy, till they
were supplanted by the other. But we do not pretend to see
the same close connection and the same exact correspondence
between the Old and the New in all, or even the greater part,
of the historical transactions of the past, which we hold to
have been typical ; nor are we warranted to look for it. The
analogy of the symbolical types would lead us to expect, along
with the more direct typical arrangements, many acts and
institutions of a somewhat incidental and subordinate kind, in
which a typical representation should be given of ideas and
relations, that could only find in the realities of the Gospel
their full and proper manifestation. If they were not appointed
as temporary substitutes for these realities, and made to occupy
an ostensible place in the divine economy till the better things
appeared, they were still fashioned after the ideal of the better,
and were thereby fitted to indoctrinate the minds of God's
people with certain notions of the truth, and to familiarize
them with its spiritual ideas, its modes of procedure, and prin-
ciples of working. And in this they plainly possessed the more
essential elements of a typical connection.

II. Enough, however, for the first point. We proceed to
the second, which is, that such historical types as those under
consideration were absolutely necessary, in considerable number
and variety, to render the earlier dispensations thoroughly pre-

HISTORICAL TYPE3. 97

parative in respect to the coming dispensation of the Gospel.
This was necessary, first of allf from the typical character of

the position and worship of the members of the Old Covenant.
The main things respecting them being, as we have seen,
typical, it was inevitable but that many others of a subordinate
and collateral nature should be the same ; for otherwise they
would n<>t have been suitably adapted to the dispensation to
which they belonged.

Bat we have something more than this general correspond-
ence or analogy to appeal to. For th ■ nature of the historical
types themselves, as already explained, implies their existence,
in considerable number and variety. The representation they
were designed to give of the fundamental truths and principles
of the Gospel, with the view of preparing the Church for the
new dispensation, must necessarily have been incomplete and
inadequate, unless it had embraced a pretty extensive field.
The object of their appointment would have been but partially
reached, if they had consisted only of the few straggling ex-
amples which have been particularly mentioned in New Testa-
ment Scripture. Nor, unless the history in general of Old
Testament times, in so far as its recorded transactions bore <>n
them the stamp of God's mind and will, had been pervaded by
the typical element, could it have in any competent measure
fulfilled the design of a preparatory economy. So that what-
QCtions it may be necessary to draw between one part
of the transactions and another as to their being in themselves
sometimes of a more essential, sometimes of a more incidental,
character, or in their typical bearing being more or less closelv
related to the realities of the Gospel, their very place and
object in a preparatory dispensation required them to be exten-
sively typical. To be spread over a large field, and branched
out in many directions, was as necessary to their typical, as to
their more immediate and temporary, design.

Tims the one point grows by a sort of natural necessity out
of the other. But the argument admits of being considerably
strengthened by the manner in which the historical types that
are specially mentioned in New Testament Scripture are there
referred to. So far from being represented as singular in
their typical reference to Gospel times, they have uniformly

VOL. I. U

98 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the appearance of being only selected for the occasion. Nay,
the obligation on the part of .believers generally to seek for
them throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, and apply
them to all the purposes of Christian instruction and improve-
ment, is distinctly asserted in the Epistle to the Hebrews ; and
the capacity to do so is represented as a proof of full-grown
spiritual discernment.1 There is, therefore, a sense in which
the saying of Augustine, 'The Old Testament, when rightly
understood, is one great prophecy of the New,'2 is strictly true
even in regard to those parts of ancient Scripture which, in
their direct and immediate bearing, partake least of the pro-
phetical. Its records of the past are at the same time preg-
nant with the germs of a corresponding but more exalted future.
The relations sustained by its more public characters, the parts
they were appointed to act in their clay and generation, the
deliverances that were wrought for them and by them, and
the chastisements they were from time to time given to ex-
perience, did not begin and terminate with themselves. They
were -parts of an unfinished and progressive plan, Avhich finds
its destined completion in the person and kingdom of Christ ;
and only when seen in this prospective reference do they appear
in their proper magnitude and full significance.

Christ, then, is the end of the history as well as of the law
of the Old Testament. It had been strange, indeed, if it were
otherwise ; strange if its historical transactions had not been
ordained by God to bear a prospective reference to the scheme
of grace unfolded in the Gospel. For what is this scheme
itself, in its fundamental character, but a grand historical
development % What are the doctrines it teaches, the blessings
it imparts, and the prospects it discloses of coming glory, but
the ripened fruit and issue of the wondrous facts it records ?
The things which are there written of the incarnation and life,
the death and resurrection, of the Lord Jesus Christ, are
really the foundation on which all rests — the root from which

1 Heb. v. 11-14.

2 Vetus Testamentum recte intelligcntibus prophetia est Novi Testa-
i icnti {Contra Faust, lib. xv. 2). And again : Ille apparatus veteris Testa-
ment in generationibus, factis etc. parturiebat esse venturum (lb. lib.
xix. 31).

HISTORICAL TYP1 99

everything springs in Christianity. And shall it, then, 1
imagined, that the earlier facts in the history of related and
preparatory dispensations did not point, like so many heralds
and forerunners, to these unspeakably greater ones to come I
If a prophecy lay concealed in their symbolical rites, could it
fail to be found also in the historical transactions that were
■n so ( allied to these, and always coincident with

them in purpose and design ? Assuredly not. In so far as
God spake in the transactions, and gave discoveries by them
of His truth and character, they pointed onward to the one
'Pattern Man,' and the terminal kingdom of righteousness
and blessing of which lie was to be the head and centre.
Here only the history of God's earlier dispensations attained
its proper end, as in it also the history of the world rose to its
true greatness and glory.1

III. The thought, however, may not unnaturally occur, that
if the historical matter of the Old Testament possess as much

1 Compare the remarks made by the author in 'Prophecy viewed with
respect to its Distinctive Nature,' etc. Pt. i. ch. 2 : also what lias been said
here in p. .".I sq. of the views which have obtained currency in Germany

ecting the typical character of old Testamenl history. Hartmann, in
his Verbinnung des Alien Test, mil </>n Neuen, p. 6, gives tin' following
from a German periodical on the subject of old Testament history, and
its connection with the Gospel: — '.Must not Judaism be of great moment
to Christianity, aince both stand in brotherly and sisterly relations to each
other? The historical books of the Hebrews are also religious books; the
religious import i- involved in the historical. The history of the people, as
a divine leading and management in respect to them, was at the same time
a training fm- religion, precisely as the old Testament is a preparation for
New." j-'till more strongly Jacobi, as quoted by Sack, Apologetik, p.

856, on the words of Christ, that 'as the serpent was lifted up, so must the
Son of man be lifted up' {v^ady,voit on): 'History is also prophecy. The
past unfolds the future as a germ, and ;it certain points, discernible by the
of the mind, the greater may be seen imaged in the smalL r, the
internal in the • I, the present or future in the past. Here tlei

nothing whatever arbitrary: throughout there i> a divine must — connection
ami arrangement, pregnant with mutual relations.' More recently, Hof-

maiin, in his II \g und Erftillung, as noticed in eh. i.. has run to an

extreme this vi ament history, and in his desire to magnify

the importance of it has depreciate 1 prophecy — but' really to the disparage-
ment of the prophetical element in both di i artmenta.

100 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCKIPTUKE.

as has been represented of a typical character, some plain indica-
tions of its doing so should be found in Old Testament Scripture
itself ; we should scarcely need to draw our proof of the exist-
ence and nature of the historical types entirely from the writings
of the New Testament. It was with the view of meeting this
thought that our third position was laid down ; which is, that
Old Testament Scripture does contain undoubted marks and
indications of its historical personages and events being related
to some higher ideal, in which the truths and relations exhibited
in them were again to meet, and obtain a more perfect develop-
ment. The proof of this is to be sought chiefly in the propheti-
cal writings of the Old Testament, in which the more select
instruments of God's Spirit gave expression to the Church's
faith respecting both the past and the future in His dispensa-
tions. And in looking there, we find, not only that an exalted
personage, with His work of perfect righteousness, and His
kingdom of consummate bliss and glorv. was seen to be in pro-
spect, but also that the expectations cherished of what was to be,
took very commonly the form of a new and higher exhibition of
what had already been. In giving promise of the better things
to come, prophecy to a large extent availed itself of the charac-
ters and events of history. But it could only do so on the two-
fold ground, that it perceived in these essentially the same
elements of truth and principle which were to appear in the
future ; and in that future anticipated a nobler exhibition of
them than had been given in the past. And what was this but
to indicate their typical meaning and design? The truth of the
statement will more fully appear when Ave come to treat of the
combination of type with prophecy, which, on account of its
importance, we reserve for the subject of a separate chapter.
Meanwhile, it will be remembered how even Moses speaks
before his death of ' the prophet which the Lord their God
should raise up from among his brethren like to himself'1 —
one that should hold a similar position and do a similar work,
but each in its kind more perfect and complete — else, why look
out for another ? In like manner, David connects the historical
appearance of Melchizedek with the future Head of God's
Church and kingdom, when He announces Him as a priest

1 Dcut. xviii. 18.

THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 101

after the order of Melchizedek ; ' lie foresaw that the rela-
tions of Melchizedek's time should be again revived in this

divine character, and the same part fulfilled anew, but raised, as
the connection intimates, to a higher sphere, invested with a
heavenly greatness, and carrying a world-wide significance and
power. So again, we are told,"' another Elias should arise in
the brighter future, to be succeeded by a mure glorious mani-
tation of the Lord, to do what had never been done but
in fragments before ; namely, to provide for Himself a true
spiritual priesthood, a regenerated people, and an offering of
righteousness. But the richest proofs are furnished by the
latter portion of Isaiah's writings ; for there we find the prophet
intermingling so closely together the past and the future, that
it is often difficult to tell of which he actually speaks. lie
passes from Israel to the Messiah, and again from the Messiah
to Israel, as if the one were but a new, a higher and nobler
development of what belonged to the other. And the Church
of the future is constantly represented under the relations of
the past, only freed from the imperfections of former times,
and rendered in every respect more blessed and glorious.

Such are a few specimens of the way in which the more
spiritual and divinely enlightened members of the Old Covenant
saw the future imaged in the past or present. They discerned
the essential oneness in truth and principle between the two;
but at the same time were conscious of such inherent imper-
fections and defects adhering to the past, that they felt it re-
(juired a nmre perfect future to render it altogether worthy of
God, and fully adequate to the wants and necessities of His
pie. And there is one entire book of the Old Testament
which owes in a manner its existence, as it now stands, to this
likeness in one respect, but diversity in another, between the
past and the future things in God's administration. I refer to
the Book of Psalms. The pieces of which this book consists
are in their leading character devotional summaries, expressing
the pious thoughts and feelings which the consideration of God's
ways and the knowledge of His revelations were fitted to raise
in reflecting and spiritual bosoms. But the singular thing is,
that they are this for the New as well as for the ( )ld Testament
1 Ps. ex. 4. - Mai. iii 1, iv. b.

102 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

■worshipper. They are still incomparably the most perfect ex-
pression of the religions sentiment, and the best directory to the
soul in its meditations and communings about divine things,
which is anywhere to be found. There is not a feature in
the divine character, nor an aspect of any moment in the life
of faith, to which expression, more or less distinct, is not there
given. How could such a book have come into existence,
centuries before the Christian era, but for the fact that the
Old and the New dispensations — however they may have
differed in outward form, or in the ostensible nature of the
transactions belonging to them — were founded on the same
relations, and pervaded by the same essential truths and prin-
ciples? No otherwise could the Book of Psalms have served
as the great handbook of devotion to the members of both
covenants. There the disciples of Moses and Christ meet as
on common ground — the one still readily and gratefully using
the fervent utterances of faith and hope which the other had
breathed forth ages before. And though it was comparatively
carnal institutions under which the holy men lived and wor-
shipped who indited those divine songs ; though it was trans-
actions bearing directly only on their earthly and temporal
condition which formed the immediate ground and occasion
of the sentiments they uttered ; yet, where in all Scripture
can the believer, who now ' worships in spirit and in truth,'
more readily find for himself the words that shall fitly express
his loftiest conceptions of God, embody his most spiritual and
enlarged views of the divine government, or tell forth the
feelings and desires of his soul even in many of its most lively
and elevated moods ?

But with this manifold adaptation to the spiritual thoughts
and feelings of the Christian, there is still a perceptible differ-
ence between the Psalms of David and the writings of the
New Testament. With all that discovers itself in the Psalms
of a vivid apprehension of God, and of a habitual confidence
in His faithfulness and love, one cannot fail to mark the
indications of something like a trembling restraint and awe
upon the soul ; it never rises into the filial cry of the Gospel,
Abba Father. There is a fitfulness also in its aspirations, as
of one dwelling in a dusky and changeful atmosphere. Con-

FULNESS OF TYPICAL MATTER. 103

timiallv, indeed, do we see the Psalmist riving, in distress and
trouble, under the shelter of the Almighty, and trusting in
His mercy for deliverance from the guilt of sin. Even in the
worst times he still prays and looks for redemption. But the
redemption which dispels all fear, and satisfies the soul with
the highest good, he knew not, excepting as a bright day-star
glistening in the far- distant horizon. It was in his believ-
ing apprehensions a thing that should one day be realized by
the Church of God ; and he could tell also somewhat of the
mighty and glorious personage destined in the divine counsels
to accomplish it — of II is unparalleled struggles in the cause of
righteousness, and of His final triumphs, resulting in the ex-
tension of His kingdom to the farthest bounds of the earth.
But no more — the veil still hangs ; expectation still waits and
longs ; and it is only for the believer of other times to say,
1 Mine eves have seen Thv salvation ;' * I have a desire to de-
part, and to be with Christ ;' or again, ' Behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be
called the sons of God ; and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know, that when lie appears, we shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him as He is.'

Such is the agreement, and such also the difference, between
the Old and the New. ( There we see the promise and prelude
of the blessings of salvation ; here, these blessings themselves,
far surpassing all the previous forcshadowings of them. There,
a fiducial resting in Jehovah ; here, an unspeakable fulness
of spiritual and heavenly blessings from the opened fountain
of His mercy. There, a confidence that the Lord would not
abandon His people; here, the Lord Himself assuming their
nature, the God-man connecting Himself in organic union with
humanity, and sending forth streams of life through its members.
There, in the background, night, only relieved by the stars of
the word of promise, and operations of grace in suitable ac-
cordance with it ; here, in the background, day, still clonded,
indeed, by our human nature, which is not yet completely
penetrated by the Spirit, and is ever anew manifesting its
sinfulness, but yet such a day as gives assurance of the cloud-
less sunshine of eternity, of which God Himself Is the light.'1
1 Delitzsch, Bibluch-prophetuclu 1 ./■'-. p. 5

104 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCKIPTURE.

We here conclude the direct proof of our argument for the
typical character of the religion and history of the Old Testa-
ment : but it admits of confirmation from two distinct thouirh
related lines of thought, — the one analogical, derived from the
existence of typical forms in physical nature, coupled with the
evidences of a progression in the divine mode of realizing
them ; the other founded inferentially on what might seem
requisite to render the progression, apparent in the spiritual
economy, an effective growth towards ' the dispensation of the
fulness of times.' With a few remarks on each of these, we
shall close this branch of our inquiry.

1. The subject of typical forms in nature has only of late
risen into prominence, and taken its place in scientific inves-
tigations. It had the misfortune to be first distinctly broached
by men who were more distinguished for their powers of fancy
and their bold spirit of speculation, than for patient and labori-
ous inquiry in any particular department of science ; so that
their peculiar ideas respecting a harmony of structure run-
ning through the organic kingdoms, and bearing relation to a
pattern-form or type, were for a time treated with contempt,
or met with decided opposition. But further research has
turned the scale in their favour : the ideas in question may
now be reckoned among the established conclusions of natural
science ; and so far from occasioning any just prejudice to the
interests of a rational deism (as was once supposed), they have
turned rather to its advantage. For, in addition to the evi-
dences of design in nature, which show a specific direction
toward a final cause (and which remain untouched), there
have been brought to light evidences, not previously observed,
of a striking unity of plan. The general principle has been
made good, that in organic structures, while there is an infinite
variety of parts, each with its specific functions and adapta-
tions, there is also a normal shape, which it more or less ap-
proaches, both in its construction as a whole, and in each of
its organs. Thus, in plants which have leaves that strike the
eye, the leaf and plant are typically analogous : the leaf is a
typical plant or branch, and the tree or branch a typical leaf,
with certain divergencies or modifications necessary to adapt
them to their respective places. In the animal kingdom the

FULNESS OF TYPICAL MATTER. 105

structural harmony is not less perceptible, and still more to our
purpose. It lias been found by a wide and satisfactory induc-
tion, that the human is here the pattern-form — the archetype
of the vertebrate division of animated being. In the structure
of all other animal forms there are observable striking resem-
blances to that of man, and resemblances of a kind that seem
signed to assimilate the lower, as near as circumstances
would admit, to the higher. In all vertebrate animals it is
found that- the vertebrate skeleton is composed of a series of
parts of essentially the same order, only modified in a great
variety of ways to suit the particular functions it has to dis-
charge in the different animal frames to which it belongs.
Thus, every segment, and almost every bone, present in the
human hand and arm, exist also in the fin of the whale, though
apparently not required for the movement of this inflexible
paddle, and the specific uses for which it is designed ; ap-
parently, therefore, retained for the sake of symmetry, than
from any necessity connected with the proper function of the
organ.1 Most strikingly, however, does the studied conformity
to the human archetype appear in the formation of the brain,
which is the most peculiar ami distinguishing part of the animal
frame. 'Nature,' says Hugh Miller, 'in constructing this
curious organ in man, first lays down a grooved cord, as the
carpenter lays down the keel of his vessel ; and on this narrow
base the perfect brain, as month after month passes by, is
gradually built up, like the vessel from the keel. First it
grows up into a brain closely resembling that of a fish ; a few
additions more impart the perfect appearance of the brain of
a bird ; it then developes into a brain exceedingly like that of
a mammiferous quadruped ; and finally, expanding atop, and
spreading out its deeply corrugated lobes, till they project
widely over the base, it assumes its unique character as a
human brain. Radically such at the first, it passes through
ail the inferior forms, from that of the fish upwards, as if each

1 It is right to 6«iy, only apparently retained, though not strictly re-
quired; for, as Dr. M'Cosh lias justly stated, there may still be usee and
designs connected with arrangements of the kind which Bcience has not
discovered; and the ivspect to symmetry may be bul an incidental and
subordinate, nut the primary or sole reason, fcioe Typical Forma, p. 149.

106 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

man were in himself, not the microcosm of the old fanciful
philosopher, but something greatly more wonderful — a com-
pendium of all animated nature, and of kin to every creature
that lives. Hence the remark, that man is the sum-total of all
animals — u the animal equivalent," says Oken, " to the whole
animal kinirdom." ' *

This, however, is not the whole. For, as geology has now
learned to read with sufficient accuracy the stony records of
the past, to be able to tell of successive creations of vertebrate
animals, from fish, the first and lowest, up to man, the last
and highest ; so here also we have a kind of typical history —
the less perfect animal productions of nature having through-
out those earlier geological periods borne a prospective reference
to man, as the complete and ultimate form of animal exist-
ence. In the language of theology, they were the types, and
he is the antitype, in the mundane system. Or, as more fully
explained by Professor Owen, ' All the parts and organs of
man had been sketched out in anticipation, so to speak, in the
inferior animals ; and the recognition of an ideal exemplar in
the vertebrated animals proves that the knowledge of such a
being as man must have existed before man appeared. For
the divine mind which planned the archetype, also foreknew
all its modifications. The archetypal idea was manifested in
the flesh long prior to the existence of those animal species
that actually exemplify it. To what natural laws or secondary
causes the orderly succession and progression of such organic
phenomena may have been committed, we are as yet ignorant.
But if, without derogation of the divine power, we may con-
ceive the existence of such ministers, and personify them by
the term nature, we learn from the past history of our globe,
that she has advanced with slow and stately steps, guided by
the archetypal light amidst the wreck of worlds, from the first
embodiment of the vertebrate idea under its old ichthvic vest-
ment, until it became arrayed in the glorious garb of the
human form.' 2

1 Footprints, p. 291.

2 It is curious to notice that considerably before the progress of physical
science had enabled its cultivators to draw this deduction from the lower to
the higher forms of organic being, the same line of thought had suggested

FULNESS OF TYPICAL MATTER. 107

In this view of the matter, what a striking analogy does the
history of God's operations in nature furnish to His plan in
providence, as exhibited in the history of redemption ! Here,
in like manner, there is found in the person and kingdom of
Christ a grand archetypal idea, towards which, for successive
ages, the divine plan was continually working. Partial exhi-
bitions of it appear from time to time in certain remarkable
personages, institutions, and events, which rise prominently into
view as the course of providence proceeds, but all marred with
obvious faults and imperfections in respect to the great object
contemplated ; until at length the idea, in its entire length and
breadth, is seen embodied in Him to whom all the prophets
gave witness — the God-man, fore-ordained before the founda-
tion of the world. 'The Creator — to adopt again the exposition
of Mr. Miller — in the first ages of His workings, appears to
have been associated with what lie wrought simply as the pro-
ducer or author of all things. But even in those ages, as scene
after scene, and one dynasty of the inferior animals succeeded
another, there were strange typical indications, which pre-
Adamite students of prophecy among the spiritual existences
of the universe might possibly have aspired to read ; symbolical

itself to the inventive mind of Coleridge from a thoughtful meditation of
the 8I1CC tages of creation as described in ( , viewed in the light

of progressive developments in tin.' mental as well ss material world. The
as a whole is singularly characteristic of its distinguished author;
but the pari we have properly to do with is the following : 'Let us cany
ourselves back in spirit to the mysterious week, the teeming work-days of
tlie On stor ; as they rose in vision before the eye of the inspired historian
of " the generations of the heavens and of the earth, in the day that the
Lord God made the earth and die heavens." And who that hath watched
their ways with an understanding heart, could, as the vision evolving still

advanced toward him, contemplate the filial an 1 loyal Bee J the QOme-

building, wedded, and divorceless Swallow ; and. above all, the manifoldly
intelligent \ut tribes, with their commonwealths and confederacies, their
warriors and miners, the husband-folk that fold in their tiny flocks bn the
honeyed leaf, and the virgin sisters with the holy instincts of maternal
love, detached and m Belfless purity — and not Bay to him elf Behold the
shadow of approaching humanity, the sun rising from behind, in the
kindling mom of creation ! Thus all lower natures find their high
in Bemblances and seekings of that which is higher and better.' — Aids to
on, i. p. bo.

108 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

indications, to the effect that the Creator was in the future to
be more intimately connected with His material works than in
the past, through a glorious creature made in His own image
and likeness. And to this semblance and portraiture of the
Deity — the first Adam — all the merely natural symbols seem to
refer. But in the eternal decrees it had been for ever deter-
mined that the union of the Creator with creation was not to
be a mere union by proxy or semblance. And no sooner had
the first Adam appeared and fallen, than a new school of pro-
phecy began, in which type and symbol were mingled with
what had now its first existence on earth — verbal enunciations ;
and all pointed to the second Adam, " the Lord from heaven."
In Him, creation and the Creator meet in reality, and not in
semblance. On the very apex of the finished pyramid of being
sits the adorable Monarch of all : — as the son of Mary, of
David, of the first Adam — the created of God ; as God and the
Son of God — the eternal Creator of the universe. And these —
the two Adams — form the main theme of all prophecy, natural
and revealed. And that type and symbol should have been
employed with reference not' only to the second, but — as held
by men like Agassiz and Owen — to the first Adam also, ex-
emplifies, we are disposed to think, the unity of the style of
Deity, and serves to show that it was He who created the
worlds that dictated the Scriptures.'1

It is indeed a marvellous similitude, and one, it will be per-
ceived, which is not less fitted to stimulate the aspirations of
hope toward the future, than to strengthen faith in what the
Bible relates concerning the history of the past. For, if the
archetypal idea in animated nature has been wrought at through
long periods and successive ages of being till it found its proper
realization in man ; now that the nature of man is linked in
personal union with the Godhead for the purpose of rectifying
what is evil, and raising manhood to a higher than its original
condition, who can tell to what a height of perfection and glory
it shall attain, when the work of God ' in the regeneration' has
fully accomplished its aim ? ' We know not what we shall be,
but we know that we shall be like Him,' in whom the earthly
and human have been for ever associated with, and assimilated
1 Witness newspaper, 2d August 1851.

FULNESS OF TYPICAL MATTER. 109

to the spiritual and divine. But the parallel between the method
of God's working in nature, and that pursued by Him in gra
especially as presented in the above graphic extract, naturally
raises the question (to which reference has already been ma
j). 62), whether or how far the creation, as constituted and
headed in Adam, is to be regarded as typical of the incarnation
and kingdom of Christ \ As the question is one that cannot
he quite easily disposed of, while still it has a very material
bearing on our future investigations, we must reserve it for
separate discussion.1

_'. If now we turn from Clod's plan in nature to His plan
in grace, and think of the conditions that were required to meet
in it, in order to render the progression here also exhibited fitly
conducive to its great end, we shall find a still further confirma-
tion of our argument for the place and character of Scripture
Typology. This plan, viewed with respect to its progressive
character, certainly presents something strange and mysterious
to our view, especially in tin.' extreme slowness of its pro n ;

since it required the postponement of the work of redemption
for SO many ages, and kept the Church during these in a state
of comparative ignorance in respect to the great objects of her
faith and hope. Vet what is it but an application to the moral
history of the world of the principle on which its ph de-

velopment has proceeded, and which, indeed, is constantly ex-
hibited before us in each man's personal history, whoso term
of probation upon earth is, in many cases half, in nearly all a
third part consumed, before the individual attains to a capacity
fur t'i" objects and employments of manhood '. Constituted as
we personally are, and as the world also is, progression of some
kind is indispensable to happiness and well-being : and the
majestic slowness that appeal's in the plan of Cod's administra-
tion of the world, is but a reflection of the nature of it; Divine
Author, with whom a thousand years are as one day. Starting,
then, with the assumption that the divine plan behoved to be
of a progressive character, the nature of the connection we
have found to exist between its earlier and later parts, discovers
the perfect wisdom and foresight of Cod. The terminating
point in the plan was what is called emphatically ' the mys-

1 See next chanter.

110 THE T1TOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

tery of godliness,' — God manifest in the flesh for the redemp-
tion of a fallen world, and the establishment through Him of a
kingdom of righteousness that should not pass away. It was
necessary that some intimation of this ulterior design should
be given from the first, that the Church might know whither
to direct her expectations. Accordingly, the prophetic Word
began to utter its predictions with the very entrance of sin.
The first promise was given on the spot that witnessed the fall ;
and that a promise which contained, within its brief but preg-
nant, utterance, the whole burden of redemption. As time
rolled on, prophecy continued to add to its communications,
having still for its grand scope and aim ' the testimony of
Jesus.' And at length so express had its tidings become, and
so plentiful its revelations, that when the purpose of the Father
drew near to its accomplishment, the remnant of sincere wor-
shippers were like men standing on their watch-towers, waiting
and looking for the long-expected consolation of Israel ; nor was
there anything of moment in the personal history or work of the
Son, of which it could not be written, It was so done, that the
Scriptures might be fulfilled.

It is plain, however, on a little consideration, that something
more was needed than the hopeful announcements of prophecy.
The Church required training as well as teaching, and training
of a very peculiar kind ; for she had to be formed for receiving
things ' which men had not heard, nor had the ear perceived,
neither had the eye seen — the things which God had prepared
for those that waited for Him.'1 l The new dispensation was
to be wholly made up of things strange and wonderful ; all that
is seen and heard of it is contrary to carnal wisdom. The
appearance of the Son of God in a humble condition — the
discharge by Him in person of a Gospel ministry, with its
attendant circumstances — His shame and sufferings — His resur-
rection and ascension into heaven — the nature of the kingdom
instituted by Him, which is spiritual — the blessings of His king-
dom, which are also spiritual — the instruments employed for
advancing the kingdom, men devoid of worldly learning, and
destitute of outward authority — the gift of the Holy Spirit, the
calling of the Gentiles, the rejection of so many among the

1 Isa. lxiv. 4.

THE FULNESS OF TIME. 1 1 1

Jewish people : — these, amoug other things, were indeed such as
the carnal eye had never seen, and the carnal ear had never
heard ; nor could they without express revelation, by any
thought or natural ingenuity on the part of man, have been
foreseen or understood.' ' But lying thus so far beyond the ken
of man's natural apprehensions, and BO different from what they
were disposed of themselves to expect, if all that was done
beforehand respecting them had consisted in the necessarily
partial and obscure intimations of prophecy, there could neither
have been any just anticipation of the things to be revealed,
nor any suitable training for them ; the change from the past
to the future must have come as an invasion, rather than as the
ult of an ever-advancing development, and men could only
have been brought by a sort of violence to submit to it.

To provide against this, there was required, as a proper
accompaniment to the intimations of prophecy, the training of
preparatory dispensations, that the past history and established
experience of the Church might run, though on a lower level,
yet in the same direction with her future prospects. And what
her circumstances in this respect required, the wisdom and fore-
sight of God provided. He so skilfully modelled for her the
institutions of worship, and so wisely arranged the dealings of
His providence, that there was constantly presented to her
view, in the outward and earthly things with which she was
conversant, the cardinal truths and principles of the coining
dispensation. In everything she saw and handled, there was
something to attemper her spirit to a measure of conformity
with the realities of the Gospel; so that if she could not be
said to live directly under ' the powers of the world to come,'
she yet shared their secondary influence, being placed amid the
signs and shadows of the true, and conducted through earthly
transactions, that bore on them the image of the heavenly.

It is to this preparatory training, as having now become
sufficiently protracted and complete, that we are to regard the
apostle as chiefly referring, when he speaks of Christ having
appeared, 'when the fulness of the time was come.' Chiefly,
though not by any means exclusively. For there is a manifold
wisdom in all God's arrangements. In the moral a well as in
1 Vitringa on Isa. lxiv. l. 2 Gal. iv. 1.

112 THE TYPOLOGY OP SCRIPTURE.

the physical world He is ever making numerous operations con-
spire to the production of one result, as each result is again
made to contribute to several important ends. It is, therefore,
a most legitimate object of inquiry, to search for all the lines of
congruity to be seen in the world's condition, that opportunely
met at the time of Christ's appearing, and together rendered it
in an especial manner suited for the fulfilment of His ministry
and the institution of His kingdom. But whatever light may
be gathered from these external researches, it should never be
forgotten that God's own record must furnish the main grounds
for determining the special fitness of the selected time, and the
state of His Church the paramount reason. In everything that
essentially affects the interests of the Church, pre-eminently
therefore in what concerns the manifestation of Christ, which
is the centre-point of all that touches her interests, the state and
condition of the Church herself is ever the first thing contem-
plated by the eye of God ; the rest of the world holds but a
secondary and subordinate place. Hence, when we are told
that Christ appeared in the fulness of time, the fact of which
we are mainly assured is, that all was done which was properly
required for bringing the Church, whether as to her internal
state or to her relations to the world, into a measure of pre-
paredness for the time of His appearing. Not only had the
period anticipated by prophecy arrived, and believing expecta-
tion, rising on the wings of prophecy, reached its proper height,
but also the long series of preliminary arrangements and deal-
ings was now complete, which were designed to make the
Church familiar with the fundamental truths and principles of
Messiah's kingdom, and prepare her for the introduction of
this kingdom with its divine realities and prospects of coming
glory. ^

It is true that we search in vain for the general and wide-
spread success which we might naturally expect to have attended
the plan of God, and to have made conspicuously manifest its
infinite wisdom. With the exception of a comparatively small
number, the professing Church was found so completely unpre-
pared for the doctrine of Christ's kingdom, as to reject it with
disdain, and oppose it with unrelenting violence. But this
neither proves the absence of the design, nor the unfitness of

THE FULNESS OF TIME. 1 1 3

the means for carrying it into effect. It onlv proves how in-
sufficient the best means are of themselves to enlighten ami
sanctify the human soul, when its thoughts and imaginations
have become fixed in a wrong direction — proves how the heart
may remain essentially corrupt, even after undergoing the
most perfect course id' instruction, and may still prefer the worse
to the better part. But while we cannot overlook the fatal
ignorance and perversity that pervaded the mass of the Jewish

iple, we arc not to forget that there still was among them a
pious remnant, 'the election according to grace,' who, as the
Church in the world, so they in the Church ever occupy the
foremost place in the mind and purposes of God. In the bosom
of the Jewish Church, as is justly remarked by Thiersch, ' there
lay a domestic life so pure, noble, and tender, that it could yield
such a person as the holy Virgin,' and could furnish an atmo-
sphere in which the Son of God might grow up sinless from
childhood to manhood. There were Simeon and Anna, Zacharias
and Elisabeth, Mary and Joseph, the company of Apostles, the
converts, no small number after all, who flocked to the standard
of Jesus, as soon as the truths of His salvation came to be fully
known ami understood, and the believing Jews and proselytes
scattered abroad, who, in almost every city, were ready to form
the nucleus of a Christian Church, and greatly facilitated its
osion in the world. Did not the course of God's prepara-
tory dispensations reach its end in regard to these? Does not

in the style of argument and address used by the Apostles
imply that it did ? How much do both their language and their
ideas savour of the sanctuary! I low constantly do they throw
themselves back for illustration and support, not only on the
prophecies, but also on the sacred annals and institutions of the
( )!d Testament ! They spake and reasoned on the assumption,
that the revelations of the Gospel were but a new and higher
exhibition of the principles which appeared alike in the events
of their past history and the services of their religious worship.
By means of these an appropriate language was already fur-
nished to their hand, through which they could discourse aright
of spiritual and divine things. But more than that, as they had
no new language to invent, so they had no new ideas to discover,
or unheard-of principles to promulgate. The scheme of truth

VOL. I. H

1U THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

which they were called to expound and propagate, had its foun-
dations already laid in the whole history and constitution of the
Jewish commonwealth. In labouring to establish it, they fel-
that they were treading in the footsteps, and, on a higher vant
tase-eround, maintaining the faith of their illustrious fathers.
In short, they appear as the heralds and advocates of a cause
which, in its essential principles, had its representation in all
history, and gathered as into one glorious orb of truth the
scattered rays of light and consolation which had been emanat-
ing from the ways of God since the world began. Thus wisely
were the different parts of the divine plan adjusted to each
other ; and, for the accomplishment of what was required, the
training by means of types could no more have been dispensed
with, than the glimpse-like visions and hopeful intimations of
prophecy.

CHAPTER FOURTH.

TIIE PROPEB NATUEB AND PROVINCE OF TYPOLOGY — 3. G
WOKE IN CREATION, HOW
AND KINGDOM OF CHRIST.

WORK IN CREATION, How RELATED TO THE INCARNATION

The analogy presented near the close of the preceding chapter
— in an extract from Hugh Miller1 — between pre-Adamite for-
mations in the animal kingdom, rising successively above each
other, and those subsequent arrangements in the religious sphere
which were intended to herald and prepare for the personal
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, is stated with becoming
caution and reserve. It keeps strictly within the limits of reve-
lation, and assumes the existence of nothing in the work of
creation itself, with respect to typical forms or otherwise, such
as could, even to the most profound intelligences of the universe,
have suggested the idea of a farther and more complete mani-
festation of God in connection with humanity. The commence-
ment of the new school of prophecy, allying itself to type and
symbol <>f another kind than had yet appeared, is dated from
the era of Adam's fall, as that which at once furnished the
occasion and opened the way for their employment; while still,
in the mind of Deity itself, or ' in the eternal decrees,' as it is
expressed in the extract, it had been for ever determined that
there should yet be a closer union between the Creator and
creation than was accomplished in Adam. In other words,
God had from eternity purposed the Incarnation ; though the
events in providence — which were to exhibit its need, and gi

• to the prophetic announcements and for> ing sym-

bols which should in due time point the eye of hop'- toward
it — came in subsequently to creation, and by reason of sin;
so that the Incarnation was predestined, because the fall was
foreseen.

The same caution, however, has not been always observed —

1 See].. 107.
110

116 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

not even in ancient, and still less in recent times. The spirit
of Christian speculation, in proportion as the circumstances of
particular times have called it into play, has striven to connect
in some more distinct and formal manner God's work in crea-
tion with a higher destiny for man in the future ; but the
modes of doing so have characteristically differed. Among the
patristic writers the tendency of this speculation was to find in
the original constitution of things pre-intimations or pledges of
a higher and more ethereal condition to be reached by Adam
and his posteritj^, as the reward of obedience to the will of God,
and perseverance in holiness. The sense of various passages
upon the subject gathered out of their writings has been thus
expressed : ' That paradise was to Adam a type of heaven ; and
that the never-ending life of happiness promised to our first
parents, if they had continued obedient, and grown up to per-
fection under that economy wherein they were placed, should
not have continued in the earthly paradise, but only have com-
menced there, and been perpetuated in a higher state.' * It is
impossible to say that such should not have been the case ; for
what in the event supposed might have been the ultimate in-
tentions of God respecting the destinies of mankind, since
revelation is entirely silent upon the subject, can be matter only
of uncertain conjecture, or, at the very most, of probable infer-
ence. It is quite conceivable that some other region might have
been prepared for their reception, where, free from any formal
test of obedience, free even from the conditions of flesh and
blood, and 'made like unto the angels,' they should have
reaped the fruits of immortality. But it is equally conceivable
that this earth itself, which ' the Lord hath given to the chil-

1 This proposition, with the authorities that support it, may be found in
the discourses of Bishop Bull, Works, vol. ii. p. 67. His proofs from the
earlier Fathers — Justin Martyr, Tatian, Irenseus — are somewhat inadequate.
The first explicit testimouy is from Theophilus of Antioch, who speaks of
Adam being ' at length canonized or consecrated and ascending to heaven,'
if he had gone on to perfection. The testimony becomes more full, as the
speculative tendency of the Greek philosophy gains strength in the Church.
And in the Liturgy of Clemens, Apost. Const, viii. 12, it is said that ' if
Adam had kept the commandments, he would have received immortality as
the reward of his obedience,' meaning thereby, eternal life in a higher
sphere.

CREATION HOW RELATED TO CHRISTIAN! IT. 117

(Iron of men,1 might have become every way suited to the
occasion; that as, on the hypothesis in question, it should have
escaped the blighting influence of sin, so other and happier
changes might have passed over it, and the condition of its
inhabitants, not only than they have actually undergone, but
than any we can distinctly apprehend ; until by successive de-
velopments of latent energies, as well of a natural as of a moral
kind, the highest attainable good for creation might have been
■lied. For anything we can tell, there may have been
powers and susceptibilities inherent in the original constitution
of things, which, under the benign and fostering care of its
Creator, were capable of being conducted through such an
indefinite course of progressive elevation. But everything of
this sort belongs to speculation, not to theology ; it lies outside
the record which contains the revelation of God's mind and will
to man ; and to designate paradise simply, and in its relation to
our first parents, a type of heaven, is even more than to speak
without warrant of Scripture, — it is to regard paradise and
man's relation to it in another light than Scripture has actually
presented them. For there the original frame and constitution
of things appears as in due accordance with the divine ideal —
relatively perfect ; and not a hint is dropped, or, so far as we
know, an indication of any kind given, that could beget in
man's bosom the expectation or desire of another state of being
and enjoyment than that which he actually possessed — none,
till the entrance of sin had created new wants in his condition,
and opened a new channel for the display of God's perfections
in regard to him. It was the influence of the ancient philosophy,
w Inch associated with matter in every form the elements of
evil, or at least of imperfection, that so readily disposed the
Fathers of the Christian Church to see in what was at first
given to Adam only the image of some higher and better in-
heritance destined for him elsewhere. They did not consider
what refinements matter itself might possibly undergo, in order
to its adaptation to the most exalted state of being. But the
Bame influence naturally kept them from connecting with this
prospective elevation to a higher sphere the necessary or pro-
bable incarnation of the "Word ; since rather by detaching the
human more from the environments of matter, than by bring-

1 1 8 Til E TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

ing the divine into closer contact with it, did the prospect of a
higher and more perfect condition for man seem possible to
their apprehensions. Hence, also, in what may be fitly called
the great symbol of the early Church's faith respecting the
incarnation — the" Nicene creed — the Fathers merely say that
' for us men, and for the sake of our salvation, the Word
was made flesh.' 1

In recent times the speculative tendency, especially among
the German divines, has shown a disposition to take the other
direction, namely, to make the incarnation of itself, and apart
altogether from the fall of man, the necessary and, from the
first, the contemplated medium of man's elevation to the final
state of perfection and blessedness destined for him. Some of
the scholastic theologians had already signalized themselves by
the advocacy of this opinion — in particular, Rupprecht of Deutz,
Alexander of Hales, Aquinas, Duns Scotus; but it was so
strongly discountenanced by Calvin and the leading divines of
the Reformation, who denounced the idea (propounded afresh by
Osiander) of an incarnation without a fall as rash and ground-
less,2 that it sunk into general oblivion, till the turn given to
speculative thought, by the revival of the pantheistic theology,
served, among other results, to bring it again into favour. This
philosophy, while resisted by all believing theologians in its
strivings to represent the created universe as but the self-
evolution and the varied form of Deity, has still left its impress
on the views of many of them as to the nature of the connection
between Creator and creature — as if an actual commingling
between the two were, in a sense, mutually essential ; since a
personal indwelling of Godhead in the form of humanity is
conceived necessary to complete the manifestation of Godhead
begun in Adam, and only by such a personal indwelling could

1 The divines of the Reformation very commonly concurred, to a certain
extent, in the view of the Fathers, and hence the position is defended by
Turretine, that Adam had the promise of being carried to heaven and en-
joying eternal life there as the reward of his obedience (Loc. Oct. Qusest.
vi.). But he admits that Scripture makes no distinct mention of this, and
that it is only matter of inference. The grounds of inference are in this
case, however, rather far to seek.

2 See, for example, Calvin's Inst. lib. ii. 12, 5. Maastricht, Thcol. lib.
v. c. 4, § 17.

CREATION HOW RELATED TO CHRISTIANITY. 110

the work of creation attain its end, either in regard to the true
ideal of humanity, on the one side, or to the revealed character
of God and the religion identified with it, on the other. Adam,
therefore, in his formation after the divine image, was the type
of the God-man, or the God-man was the true archetype and
only proper realization of the idea exhibited in Adam ; the fall,
with its attendant consequences, only determined the mode of
Christ's appearance among men, but by no means originated
the nee i IIU appearing.

The representatives of this transcendental school of Typology,
as it may not inaptly be called — which undoubtedly inclu

ie of the most learned theologians of the present day — differ
to some extent in their mode of setting forth and vindicating the
view they hold in common, according to the particular aspect of
it which more especially strikes them as important. To give
only a few specimens — Martensen presents the incarnation in
its relation to the nature of God : the true idea of God is that
of the absolute personality ; and as the union of Christ with God
is a personal union, the individual with whom God historically
entered into an absolute union, must be free from everything
individually subjective — he must reveal nothing save the absolute
personality. Christ is not to be subsumed under the idea of
humanity, but, inversely, humanity must be subsumed under
Him, since it was He in whom and for whom all things were
created (Col. i. 15). lie is at once the centre of humanity and
the revealed centre of Deity — the point at which God and God's
kingdom are personally united, and who reveals in fulness what
the kingdom of God reveals in distinct and manifold forms.
The second Adam is both the redeeming and the world-com-
pleting principle ; the incarnate Logos, and as such the head
not merely of the human race, but of all creation, which was
made by Him and for Him, and is again to be recapitulated in
Him.1 Lange makes his starting-point the final issues of the
incarnation, and from these argues its primary and essential
place in the scheme of the divine manifestations. The post-
temporal, eternal glory of the humanity of Christ points back to
its eternal, ideal existence in God. The eternal Son of God
cannot, in the course of His temporal existence, have saddled

1 Dogmatik, § 130, 181.

120 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

Himself (behaftet sicli) for ever with something accidental ; or
have assumed a form which, as purely historical, does not cor-
respond to His eternal essence. We must therefore distinguish
between incarnation and assumption of the form of a servant (so
as, he means, to place the latter alone in a relation of dependence
to the fall of man) ; must also learn to understand the eternal
beginnings of Christ's humanity, in order to perceive how inti-
mate a connection it has with the past — with the work of crea-
tion, with primeval times, and the history of the Old Testament.
The whole that appeared in these of good is to be regarded as
so many vital evolutions of the divine life that is in Christ ; but
in Him alone is the idea of it fully realized.1 Both of the writers
just referred to, also Liebner, Rothe, and, greater thau them
all, Dorner, lay special stress on the argument derived from the
headship of humanity indissolubly linked to Christ. Humanity,
according to Dorner, as it appears before God — redeemed
humanity — is not merely a mass or heap of unconnected indivi-
duals, but an organism, forming, with the world of higher spirits
and nature, which is to be glorified for and through it, a com-
plete and perfect organic unity. Even the natural world is an
unity, solely because there is indissolubly united with it a prin-
ciple which stands above it and comprises it within itself — namely,
the Divine Logos, by whom the world was formed and is sus-
tained, who is the vehicle and the representative of its eternal
idea. But in a higher sense the world of humanity and spirits
is an unity, because through the God-man who stands over it,
and by His personal self-communication of Godhead-fulness
pervades it, its creaturely susceptibility to God is filled ; it now
enters into the circle of the divine life, and stands in living
harmony with the centre of all good. But a matter so essential
to the proper idea of humanity cannot belong to the sphere of
contingency ; it must be viewed as inseparably connected with
the purpose of God in creation. And there is another thought,
which Dorner conceives establishes beyond doubt the belief,
that the incarnation had not its sole ground in sin, but had a
deeper, an eternal, and abiding necessity in the wise and free
love of God, — namely, that Christianity is the perfect religion,

1 See the outline of his views in Dorner on the Person of Christ, note
23, vol. ii. pt. ii. of the original, note 34 of the Eng. Trans.

CREATION HOW RELATED TO CHRISTIANITY. 121

the religion absolutely, the eternal Gospel ; and that for this
religion Christ is the centre, without which it cannot be so much
as conceived. Whoso, says he, maintains that Adam might have
become perfect even without Christ, inasmuch as no one can
deem it possible to conceive of perfection without the perfect
religion, maintains, cither consciously or unconsciously, two
absolute religions, one without, and one with Christ — which is ;i
hare contradiction. No Christian, he thinks, will deny that it
makes an essential difference, whether Christ, or only God in
general, is the central point of a religion. At the same time,
with Christian candour he admits, that the necessity of the truth
he advocates will not so readily commend itself to theologians,
who are wont to proceed in an experimental and anthropological
manner (that is, who look at the matter as it has been evolved
in the history and experience of mankind), as it must, and
actually does, to those who recognise both the possibility and the
necessity of a Christian speculation, that takes the conception of
God for its starting-point.1

AVhile this mode of contemplating the incarnation of Christ,
and of connecting it with the idea of creation, has in its recent
development had its origin in the philosophy, and its formal
exhibition in the theology, of Germany, it is no longer confined
to that country; and both the view itself, and its application to
the Typology of Scripture, have already found a place in our
own theological literature. Archbishop Trench, in his Sermon*
preached be/ore the University of Cambridge, although he ad-
vances nothing strictly new upon the subject, yet speaks not
less decidedly respecting the necessity of the incarnation, apart
altogether from the fall, to enable the race of Adam ' to attain
the end of its creation, the place among the families of God,
for which from the first it was designed.' Special stress is laid
by him, as by Lange, on the issues of the incarnation, as reflect-
ing li<rht on its original intention : 'The taking on Himself of

O B B a

our ilesh by the Eternal Word was no makeshift to meet a
mighty, yet still a particular, emergent need; a need which,
conceding the lilx rty of man's will, and that it was possible for
him to have continued in his first state of obedience, might

1 /' Christ, vul. ii. pt. ii. p. 1241. Eng. Trans., Div. ii. vol. iii.

p. S23 sq.

122 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

never have occurred. It was not a mere result and reparation
of the fall, — such an act as, except for that, would never have
been ; but lay bedded at a far deeper depth in the counsels of
God for the glory of His Son, and the exaltation of that race
formed in His image and His likeness. For, against those who
regard the incarnation as an arbitrary, or as merely an historic
event, and not an ideal one as well, we may well urge this
weighty consideration, that the Son of God did not, in and
after His ascension, strip off this human nature again ; He did
not regard His humanity as a robe, to be worn for a while and
then laid aside ; the convenient form of His manifestation, so
long as He was conversing with men on earth, but the fitness
of which had with that manifestation passed away. So far
from this, we know, on the contrary, that He assumed our
nature for ever, married it to Himself, glorified it with His own
glory, carried it as the form of His eternal subsistence into the
world of angels, before the presence of His Father. Had there
been anything accidental here, had the assumption of our nature
been an afterthought (I speak as a man), this marriage of the
Son of God with that nature could scarcely be conceived. He
could hardly have so taken it, unless it had possessed an ideal
as well as an historic fitness ; unless pre-established harmonies
had existed, such harmonies as only a divine intention could
have brought about between the one and the other.'

The application of this view to Typology is apparent from
the very statement of it ; but it has also been formally made,
and so as to combine the results obtained from the geological
territory with those of a more strictly theological nature. Thus,
the late Mr. Macdonald x speaks of ' the scheme of nature, read
from the memorials of creation inscribed on the earth's crust,
or recorded in the opening pages of Genesis, as progressive, and
from its very outset, prophetic ; ' and a little further on he says,
* There is no reason whatever for confining the typical to the
events and institutions subsequent to the fall. The cause of
this arbitrary limitation lies in regarding as typical only what
strictly prefigured redemption, instead of connecting it with
God's manifestation of Himself and His purposes in all His acts
and administrations, which, however varied, had from the very
1 lntrod. to the Pent. vol. ii. p. 451.

CREATION HOW RELATED TO CHRISTIANITY. 123

first one specific and expressed object in view — His own glory
through man, at first created in the divine image, and since the?
fall to be transformed into it; inasmuch as that moral disorder
rendered such a change necessary. The whole of the divine
acts and arrangements from the beginning formed part of one
system ; for, as antecedent creations reached their end in man,
so man himself, in his original constitution, prefigured a new and
higher relation of the race than the incipient place reached in
creation' (p. 457). The fall is consequently to be understood,
and is expressly represented, merely as a kind of interruption
or break in the march of providence toward its aim, in nature
akin to such events as the death of Abel and the flood in after
times ; while the divine plan not the less proceeded on its course,
only with special adaptations to the altered state of things.

I. It is this more special bearing of the subject, its relation
to a well-grounded and truly scriptural Typology, with which
we have here chiefly to do; and to this, accordingly, we shall
in the first instance address ourselves. In doing so, we neither
directly question nor defend the truth of the view under con-
sideration : we leave its title to a place in the deductions of a
scientific theology for the present in abeyance, and merely re-
gard it in the light in which it is put by its most learned and
thoughtful advocates, as a matter of inference from some of
the later testimonies of Scripture concerning the purposes of
< iod ; and this, too, only as informed and guided by a spirit of
( 'hristian speculation, having for its starting-point the concep-
tion of God.

Now the matter standing thus, it would, as appears to us,
be extremely unwise to lay suoh a view at the foundation of
a typological system, or even to give it in such a system a dis-
tinctly recognised place. For this were plainly to bring a
certain measure of uncertainty into the very structure of the
system — founding upon a few incidental hints and speculative
considerations concerning the final purposes of God, in which
it were vain to expect a general concurrence among theologians,
rather than upon the broad stream and current of His revela-
tions. It were also, as previously noticed (p. 5#), to make our
Typology, in a very important respect, return to the funda-

124 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

mental error of the Cocceian school ; that is, would inevitably
lead to the too predominant contemplation of everything in the
earlier dispensations of God as from the divine point of view,
and with respect to the great archetypal idea in Christ, as from
the beginning foreseen and set up in prospect. This tendency,
indeed, has already in a remarkable manner discovered itself
among the divines who bring into the foreground of God's
manifestations of Himself the idea of the God-man. Lange,
for instance, has given representations of the ' divine-human
life' in the patriarchs and worthies of ancient times, which
seem to leave no very distinctive difference between the action
of divinity in them and in the person of Jesus. Niigelsbach
(in his work Der Goltmensch) even represents our first parent
as Elohim-Adam (God-man), on the ground of his spiritual
essence being of a divine nature ; and both in Adam after the
fall, and the better class who succeeded, there was what he
calls an artificial realization of the idea of the God-manhood
attempted, and in part accomplished. Hence, not without
reason has Dorner delivered a caution to those who coincide
with him in his view respecting the incarnation, to beware of
darkening the preparation for Christ by throwing into their
delineation of early times too much of Christ Himself, or of
becoming so absorbed in the typical as to overlook the historical
life and struggles of the people of the Old Covenant.1 The
caution, we are persuaded, will be of little avail so long as the
idea of the incarnation is placed in immediate relationship to
God's work in creation ; for in that case it must ever seem
natural to make that idea shine forth in all the more peculiar
instruments and operations of God, and generally to assimilate
humanity in its better phases too closely to the altogether singular
and mysterious person of Immanuel. A kind of God-manhood
will be found in humanity as such ; and the real God-manhood
will almost inevitably melt away into the shadowy form of a
Sabellian manifestation.

Even if this serious error could be avoided, another and

slighter form of the same erroneous tendency would be sure to

prevail, — if the incarnation, as the archetypal idea of creation,

were formally introduced, and made the guiding-star of our

1 Vol. ii. pt. ii. No. 23, or Eng. Trans. No. 34.

CREATION HOW RELATED TO CHRISTIANITY. 125

Typology. It would inevitably lead us, in our endeavours to
read out the meaning of God's working in creation and provi-
dence, to put a certain strain upon the things which appear, in
order to bring out what is conceived to have been the ultimate
sign in them ; we would be inclined to view* them rather as
an artificial representation of what God predestined and foresaw,
than a natural and needed exhibition of things to be believed or
hoped for by partially enlightened but God-fearing men. The
divine here must not be viewed as moving in a kind of loftv
isolation of its own ; it should rather be contemplated as letting
itself down into the human. We should feel that we have to
do, not simply with Heaven's plan as it exists in the mind and
is grasped by the all-comprehending eye of God, but with this
plan as gradually evolving itself in the sphere of human respon-
sibility, and developed step by step, in the manner most fitly
adapted to carry forward the corporate growth of the Church
toward its destined completeness. It is the proper aim and
business of Typology to trace the progress of this development,
and to show how, amid many outward diversities of form and
ever- varying measures of light, there were great principles

idily at work, and in their operations forecasting, with grow-
ing clearness and certainty, the appearance and kingdom of the

rd Jesus Christ. To such a method also Typology must
owe much of the interest with which it may be able to inv
its proper line of inquiry, and its success in throwing light on
the history and mutual interconnection of the divine dispensa-
tions. But it were to depart from this safe and profitable course,
if we should attempt to bring all that, by dint of inference and
speculation in the strictly divine sphere of things, we might
find it possible to connect with the earlier acts and operations
of God. These should rather be brought out in the aspect and
relation they bore to those whom they immediately respected,
in order that, from the effect they were designed and fitted to
produce in the spiritual instruction and training of men who
had to serve God in their respective generations, the place and
purpose may be learned which properly belonged to them in
the general scheme of a progressive revelation.

The statement of Mr. Macdonald may be referred to in
proof of what is likely to happen from the neglect of such

12G THE TYPOLOGY OF SCEIPTUPE.

considerations, and from attempting to carry the matter higher.
The scheme of God, he says, as well that which commenced
with Adam as the preceding one which culminated in him, was
' from the outset prophetic ; ' and again : l The whole of the
divine acts and arrangements from the beginning formed parts
of one system ; for, as antecedent creations reached their end
in man, so man himself, in his original constitution, prefigured
a new and higher relation of the race to the Creator, than the
incipient place reached in creation.' Now, taking the terms
here used in their ordinary sense, we must understand by this
statement that the work of creation in Adam carried in its very
constitution the signs and indications of better things to come
for man ; for, to speak of it as being prophetic, or having a pre-
figuration of a higher relation to the Creator than then actually
existed, imports more than that such a destiny was in the purpose
and decrees of the Almighty (which no one will dispute) ; it
denotes, that the creation itself was of such a kind as to proclaim
its own relative imperfection, and at the same, time, by means
of certain higher elements interwoven with it, to give promise of
a state in which such imperfection should be done away. The
question, then, is, How did it do so, or for whom ? The Lord
Himself, at the close of creation, pronounced it all very good ;
and the charge given to Adam and his partner spake only of a
continuance of that good as the end they were to aim at, and
of the loss of it as the evil they were to shun. What ground
is there for supposing that more was either meant on God's
part, or perceived on man's? Adam, indeed, was made, and
doubtless knew that he was made, in the image of God ; as
such he was set over God's works, and appointed in God's
name, to exercise the rights of a terrestrial lordship ; but how
should he have imagined from this, that it was in the purposes
of Heaven to enter into a closer relationship with humanity,
and that he, as the image of God, was but the figure of one
who should be actually God and man united ? Supposing him,
however, to have been ignorant, of this, might it not in fact
have existed, as in subsequent times there were prefigurations
of Gospel realities, which were but imperfectly, sometimes per-
haps not at all, understood in that character b}- those who had
directly to do with them ? But the cases are by no means

CREATION HOW RELATED TO CHRISTIANITY. 127

parallel. For, in regard to those later prefigurations, the pro-
mise had already entered of a restored and perfected condition ;
and believing men were not only warranted, but in a sense
bound, to search into them for signs and indications of the
better future. If they failed to perceive them, it was because
of their feebleness of faith or defect of spiritual discernment.
In the primeval constitution of things it was quite otherwise :
man was altogether upright, and creation apparently in all
respects as it should be ; the Creator Himself rested with satis-
faction in the works of His hand, and by the special consecra-
tion of the seventh day invited His earthly representative to do
the same. How, in such a case, should the thought of imper-
fection and deficiency have arisen, or any prospect for tho
future seemed natural, save such as might associate itself with
the progressive development and expansion of that which already
existed ? Beyond this, whatever there might be in the purpose
and decrees of God, it is hard to conceive how room could yet
have been found for anything farther entering into the con-
ceptions and hopes of man.

Unquestionably there was much beyond in the divine mind
and purpose. ' Known unto God are all I lis works from the
beginning of the world.' With infallible certainty He foresaw
from the outset the issues of that constitution of things which
was set up in Adam ; foresaw also, and predetermined, the in-
troduction of that covenant of grace by which other and happier
issues for humanity were to be secured. On this account it is
said of Christ, as the destined Mediator of that covenant, that
lie was 'fore-ordained before the foundation of the world;'
and of those who were ultimately to share in the fruits of His
mediation, that they also were chosen in Him before the world
was made.1 But it is one thing to assign a place to such ulte-
rior thoughts and purposes in tin- eternal counsels of the God-
head, and another thing to regard them as entering into the
objective revelation He gave of His mind and will at the

sation of the world, so as to bring them within the ken of
His intelligent creatures. In doing the one, we have both
the warrant of Scripture and the I , of things to guide

us; while the other would involve the introduction, out of

1 1 lVt. i. 20 : E] '.. i. l.

128 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

due time, of those secret things which as yet belonged only to
the Lord.

According to what may be called the palpable and prevail-
ing testimony of Scripture on the subject, the work of God in
creation is to be regarded as the adequate reflection of His own
infinite wisdom and goodness, adapted in all respects to the
special purposes for which it was designed. But the sin of
man through the cunning of the tempter presently broke in to
mar the good ; and, following thereupon, the predestined plan
of grace began to give intimation of its purpose, and to open
for itself a path whereby the lost good should be won back,
and the destroyer be himself destroyed. This plan starts on
its course with the avowed aim of rectifying the evil which
originated in man's defection ; and it not less avowedly reaches
its end when the restitution, or bringing back again, of all
things is accomplished.1 It carries throughout the aspect of a
remedial scheme, a restoration of that which had come forth
in the freshness and beauty of life from the hand of God. A
rise, no doubt, accompanies the process ; and the work of God
at its consummation shall assuredly be found on a much higher
level than at the beginning, as it shall also present a much
fuller and grander exhibition of the divine character and per-
fections. But still, in the scriptural form of representation,
the original work continues to occupy the position of the proper
ideal : all things return, in a manner, whence they came ; and
a new heavens and a new earth, with paradise restored and
perennial springs of life and blessing, appear in prospect as
the glorious completion to which the whole scheme is gradually
tending. Since thus the things of creation are exhibited in a
relation to those of redemption so markedly different from that
possessed by the preliminary to the final processes of redemp-
tion itself, it were surely to introduce an unjustifiable departure
from the method of Scripture, and also to confound things that
materially differ, were we, in a typological respect, to throw all
into one and the same category. Creation cannot possibly be
the norm or pattern of redemption, after the same manner that
an imperfect or provisional execution of God's work in grace
is to that work in its fully developed and ripened form. Yet,

1 Acts iii. 21.

CREATION HOW RELATED TO CHR3ITIANITY. 129

for the very reason that redemption assumes the aspect of a
restoration, not the introduction of something absolutely new,
creation assuredly is a norm or pattern, to which the divine
ncy in redemption assimilates its operations and results : the
one bases itself upon the other, and does not aim at supplanting,
but only at rectifying, reconstructing, and perfecting it. Twin-
ideals they may be called, and as such they cannot but present
many points of agreement, bespeaking the unity of one con-
triving and all-directing mind, which it may well become us
on proper occasions to mark, lint each after its own manner ;
and for the province of Typology proper, we cannot but deem
it on every account wise, expedient, and fitting that it should
confine itself to what pertains to God's work in grace, and
should move simply in the sphere of ' the regeneration.'

II. Passing now to the more general aspect of the view in
question respecting the incarnation and kingdom of Christ, or
its title to rank among the deductions of theological inquiry, it
would be out of place here to go into a lengthened examination
of it ; and the indication of a few leading points is all that we
shall actually attempt. The direction already taken on the
typological bearing of the subject, is that also which I feel con-
strained to take regarding its general aspect. For, though it
scarcely professes to be more than a speculation, and one pur-
posely intended to exalt the doctrine of the incarnation, yet the
tendency of it, I am persuaded, cannot be unattended with
danger, as it seems in various respects opposed to the form of
sound doctrine delivered to us in Scripture.

1. First of all, it implies, as already stated, a view of crea-
tion not only discountenanced by the general current of scrip-
tural representation, but not easily reconcilable with the perfect
wisdom and goodness of the Creator. As a matter of fait,
creation in Adam certainly fell short of its design ; or, to ex-
press it otherwise, humanity, as constituted in our first parent,
failed to realize its idea. But as so constituted, was it not
endowed with all competent powers and resources for attaining
the end in view '. Was it absolutely and inherently incapable
of doing so apart from the incarnation .' In that case, one
does not see how either the work of (Jod could possess that
vol. I. i

130 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

character of relative perfection constantly ascribed to it in
Scripture, or the defection of man should have drawn after it
such fearful penalties. Both God's work and man's, on the
hypothesis in question, seem to take a position different from
what properly belongs to them ; and the manifestation of God's
moral character in this world enters on its course amid difficul-
ties of a very peculiar and embarrassing kind. The perplexity
thus arising is not relieved by the supposition that mankind
will be raised to a higher state of perfection and blessedness
through the medium of the incarnation than had otherwise
been possible, and that this was hence implied in creation as
the means necessary to creation's end ; for we have here to do
with the character of God's work considered by itself, and what
immediately sprang from it. Nor is it by any means certain, or
we may even say probable, that if humanity had stood faithful
to its engagements, the ultimate destiny of its members would
have been in any respect lower than that which they may attain
through sin and redemption. But on such a theme, where we
have no sure light to guide us, it is needless to expatiate.

2. The view presented by this theory of the mission of
Christ, however, is a still more objectionable feature in it ; for,
exalting the incarnation as of itself necessary to the higher
ends of creation, apart from the concerns of sin and redemp-
tion, it inevitably tends to depress the importance of these,
and gives to something else, which was no way essentially con-
nected with them, the place of greatest moment for the interests
of humanity. The earlier Socinians, it is well known, on this
very ground favoured the scholastic speculations on the sub-
ject ; they espoused the view, not indeed of an incarnation
without a fall (for in no proper sense did they hold what these
terms import), but of the necessity of the mission of Christ,
independently of the sin of Adam and the consequences thence
arising : in this they appeared to find some countenance for
the comparatively small account they made alike of the evil of
sin, and of the wondrous grace and glory of redemption. And
to a simple, unbiassed mind it must appear quite inexplicable,
that if the incarnation of our Lord were traceable to some
higher and more fundamental reason than that occasioned by
the fall, no explicit mention should have been made of it, even

CREATION HOW RELATED TO CHRISTIANITY. 131

in a single passage of Scripture. All the more direct state-
ments presented there respecting the design and purpose of
cur Lord's appearance among men stand inseparably connected
with their deliverance from the ruin of sin, and restoration
to peace and Messing. The distinctive name He bore (Jesus)
proclaimed SALVATION to be the grand bnrden of His under-
taking; or, as lie Himself puts it, ' He came to save the 1
4 to give His life a ransom for many:'1 or still again, 'that

□ mmht have life, and might have it more abundantly.' "'
He was made of a woman, made under the law, in order that
II" might redeem them who were held under the condemnation
of law.8 He took part of flesh and blood, in order that by IIi>
death He might destroy him that had the power of death —
was made like in all things to His brethren, as it behoved Him
to be, that lie might be for them a faithful high priest, and
make reconciliation for their sins.4 It is but another form of
the same mode of representation, when St. John says of Christ,
that He was manifested to destroy the works of the devil ;'
and that as the gift of God's love to the world, it was to the
end that men might not perish, but have everlasting life.6 In
the Supper also — the most distinctive ordinance of the Gospel
— not the incarnation, but redemption is presented as the central
fact of Christianity. Such is the common testimony of Scrip-
ture : redemption in some one or other of its aspects is per-
petually associated with the purpose which Christ assumed
our nature to accomplish ; and the greatness of the remedy is
made to throw light upon the greatness of the evil which
required its intervention. But according to the view we now
oppose, ' both the consequences of sin and the value of redemp-
tion are lowered, since not the incarnation, but only its special
form, is traceable to sin. That God became man is in itself
the greatest humiliation: and yet this adorable mystery of
divine lo\e is not to stand in any [necessary] connection with
sin! Only the comparatively smaller fact, that that man in
whom God would at any rate have become incarnate had
undergone Bufferings and death, is due to sin ! And what is

n more dangerous, redemption ceases to be a free act of

' Matt x\iii. 11, xx. 28. John t. 10. G iL iv. I.

4 Heb. ii. 11-17. 5 1 John iii. 8. c John iii. lo.

132 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

divine pity, and is represented as a necessity implied in crea-
tion, which would have taken place whether man had remained
obedient or not. Thus sin is not the sole cause of man's
present state ; and however the incarnation might remain an
adorable mystery .of love, redemption could no longer do so,
since it had been involved in the decree of the incarnation, and
could not be regarded as proceeding solely from divine mercy
and compassion toward fallen man.' x

There are passages of Scripture sometimes appealed to on
the other side, but they have no real bearing on the point
which they are adduced to establish. One of these is Eph.
i. 10, in which the purpose of God is represented as having
this for its object, that ' in the dispensation of the fulness of
times He might gather in one all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on earth.' The passage simply
indicates, among the final issues of Christ's work, the recapi-
tulating or summing up (avaKe^aXaicioaaaOat) of all things in
Him, heavenly as well as earthly ; but it is the historical Christ
that is spoken of — the Christ in whom (as is. stated imme-
diately before) believers have redemption through His blood,
and are predestinated to life eternal ; and there is not a hint
conveyed of the purpose or predestination of God, except in
connection with the salvation of fallen man, and the work of
reconciliation necessary to secure it. What might have been
the divine purpose apart from this, we may indeed conjecture,
but it must be without any warrant whatever from the passage
before us ; and, as Calvin has justly said, not without the
audacity of seeking to go beyond the immutable ordination of
God, and attempting to know more of Christ than was pre-
destinated concerning Him even in the divine decree.2 — The
somewhat corresponding but more comprehensive passage in
Col. i. 15-17, has been also referred to in this connection,
but with no better result. For though expressions are there
applied to Christ which, if isolated from the context, might
with some plausibility be explained to countenance the idea of
an incarnation irrespective of a fall, yet, when taken in their
proper connection, they contain nothing to justify such an

1 Kurtz, Bible and Astronomy, ch. ii. § 12, Trans.
8 Inst. B. ii. c. 12, § 5.

CREATION HOW RELATED TO CHRISTIANITY. 133

application. The starting-point here also is redemption (ver.
11, 'in whom we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins') ; and the statements in what immediately
follows (vers. 1 .1—17), have evidently for their main object the
setting forth of the divine greatness of Him by whom it is
effected — as the One by whom and for whom all things were

ated — Himself, consequently, prior to them all, and in-
finitely exalted above them. But this plainly refers to Christ
as the Logos, or Word, through whom as such the agency is
carried on, and the works are performed, by which the God-
head is revealed and brought out to the view of finite intelli-
gence. In that respect He is ' the image of the invisible God'
(\er. 15); because in Him exists with perfect fulness, and
from Him goes forth into actual embodiment, that which
forms a just representation of the mind and character of the
Eternal. On the same account also, and with reference simply
to His creative agency, He is ' the first-born of every creature ;'
being the causal beginning, whence the whole sprang into
existence, and the natural head, under whom all its orders
of being must ever stand ranged before God. His divine
Sonship is consequently the living root, in which the filial re-
lationship of men and angels had its immediate ground ; and
His image of Godhead that which reflected itself in their
original righteousness and purity. Hence, as all things came
from Him at first in the character of the revealing Word, so
they shall be again recapitulated in Him as the Word made
flesh — though in degrees of affinity to Him, and with diversity
of results corresponding to the relations they respectively occu-
pied to His redemptive agency. Hence, also, the divine image,
which by Him as the Creator was imparted to Adam, is again
restored upon all who become interested in Him as the Re-
deemer : they are renewed after the image of Him that created
them ;' implying that His work in redemption, as to its prac-
tical effect on the soul, is a substantial reproduction of that
which proceeded from Him at creation.

We have looked at the only passages worth naming, which
have been pressed in support of the theory under considera-
tion, and can see nothing in them, when fairly interpreted,

1 Col. iii. 10; Eph. iv. 24.

131 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

that seems at variance with the general tenor of the testimony
of Scripture on the subject. But this so distinctly and con-
stantly associates the incarnation of Christ with the scheme of
redemption, that to treat it otherwise must be held to be essen-
tially antiscriptural.

3. The matter is virtually disposed of, in a theological point
of view, when we have brought to bear upon it with apparent
conclusiveness the testimony of Scripture ; nor is there anything
in the collateral arguments employed by the advocates of the
theory, as indicated in the outline formerly given of their views,
which oue;ht to shake our confidence in the result. That, for
example, derived from the wonderful relationship, the personal
and everlasting union, into which humanity has been brought
with Godhead, as if, when made dependent on the fall, the
purpose concerning it should be turned into a kind of after-
thought, and it should sink, in a manner derogatory to its high
and unspeakably important nature, into something arbitrary and
contingent: — Such an argument derives all its plausibility from
the limitations and defects inseparable from a human mode of
contemplation. To the eye of Him who sees the end from the
beginning, — whose purpose, embracing the whole compass of
the providential plan, was formed before even the beginning
was effected, — there could be nothing really contingent or un-
certain in any part of the process. Nor, on the other hand,
was the creation of man necessary (in the absolute sense of the
term), any more than the fall of man : it depended on the move-
ments of a will sovereignly free ; and, hypothetically, must be
placed among the things which, prior to their existence, might
or might not, to human view, have taken place. Besides, since
anyhow the mode of the incarnation was determined by the cir-
cumstances of the fall, and the mode, as well as the thing itself,
decreed from the very first, how can we with propriety dis-
tinguish between the two? The one, as well as the other, has
a most intimate connection with the perfections of Deity ; and,
for anything we know, the reality in any other form might not
have approved itself to the infinitely wise and absolutely perfect
mind of God. Otherwise than it is, we can have no right to
say it would have been at all.

The argument founded on the supposed necessity of the

CREATION HOW RELATED TO CHRISTIANITY. 135

incarnation to the proper unity of the human race, is entitled
to no greater weight than the one just noticed. It assumes a
necessity which has not and cannot be proved to have existed.
Situated as the human family now is, it may no doubt be fitly
ignated, with Dorner, 'a mere mass,1 an aggregate of indi-
viduals, without any pervading principle to constitute them into
an organism. But this is itself one of the results of the fall;
and no one is entitled to argue from what actually is, to what
would have been, if the race had stood in its normal condition.
In the transmission of Adam's guilt to his posterity, with its
fearful heritage of suffering, corruption, and death, we have
continually before us the remains of a living organism, — the
reverse side, as it were, of the original likeness of humanity.
Why might there not have been, had its divinely constituted
head proved Btedfast to his engagements, the transmission
through that head of a yet more powerful as well as happy
influence to all the members of the family? We have no
reason to affirm such a thing to have been impossible, especially
as the human head was but the representative and medium of
communication appointed by and for Him who was the causal
or creative Head of the family. Dorner himself admits that
even the natural world is a unity, because in the divine Logos,
as the world-former and preserver, who in Himself bears and
represents its eternal idea, it has a principle which is above it,
yet pervades it. and comprises it within itself.1 If so much can
i"- sai I even now, how much more might it have been said of
the world viewed as it came from the hand of its Maker, — with
no moral barrier to intercept the flow of life and blessing from
its divine Fountainhead, and paralyze the constitution of nature
in its more vital functions! In that case the unity in diversity,
which is now the organic principle of the Christian Church,
might, and doubtless would, have been that also of the Adamic
family : only, in the one case, having its recognised .-cat and
effective power in < Jhrist as the incarnate Redeemer; in the
other, in Him as the eternal and creative W'oid. Indeed, from
the general relation of the two economies to each other, we are
warranted in assuming that as, in regard to individuals, Christ,
the Redeemer, restores the divine image, which, as to all essen-
1 Yul. ii. i^t. ii. p. 1242. Eng. Trans. Uiv. ii. \o'.. iii. j>. _ .

136 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

tial properties, was originally given by Christ, the "Word, so in
regard to the race (considered as the subject of blessing), He
restores in the one capacity what, as to germ and principle, He
had implanted in the other. There are, of course, gradations
and differences, but with these also fundamental agreements.

As to the argument that Christianity is the absolute religion,
and that without an incarnation there could be no Christianity
in the proper sense, little more need be said, than that it-starts a
problem which, in our present imperfect condition, we want the
materials for solving, — if indeed we shall ever possess them.
To speak of the absolute in connection with what, from its very
nature, and with a view to its distinctive aims, is necessarily
interwoven with much that is of a relative and local character,
is to employ terms to which we find it impossible to attach a
very definite meaning. But if a religion is entitled to be called
absolute, it surely ought to be because it is alike adapted to all,
who through it are to contemplate and adore God — the whole
universe of intelligent and moral creatures. How this, how-
ever, could have been found in a revelation which had the incar-
nation for its central fact, — found precisely on this account, and
no otherwise, — is hard to be understood, since, to say nothing
of the incarnation as now indissolubly linked to the facts of
redemption, even an incarnation dissociated from everything
relating to a fall must still be viewed as presenting aspects, and
bearing a relation, to the human family, which it could not
have done to angelic natures. But, apart from this apparent
incongruity, if there be such a thing possible as a religion that
can justly be entitled to the name of absolute, we know as yet
too little of the created universe, and the relations in which
other portions of its inhabitants stand to the Creator, to pro-
nounce with confidence on the conditions which would be
required to meet in it. We stand awed, too, by the solemn
utterance, 'No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he
to whomsoever the Son may reveal Him ;' and assured that the
Son has nowhere revealed what, according to the mind of the
Father, would be needed to constitute for all times and regions
the absolute religion, we feel that on such a theme silence is our
true wisdom.

CHAPTER FIFTH.

PROPHETICAL TYPES, OB THE COMBINATION OF TYPE WITH
PROPHECY — ALLEGED DOUBLE 8EN8B OF PROPHECY.

A TYPE, as already explained and understood, necessarily pos-
sesses something of a prophetical character, and differs in form
rather than in nature from what is usually designated prophecy.
The one images or prefigures, while the other foretells, coming
realities. In the one case representative acts or symbols, in the
cither verbal delineations, serve the purpose of indicating before-
hand what God was designed to accomplish for His people in
the approaching future. The difference is not such as to affect
the essential nature of the two subjects, as alike connecting
together the Old and the New in God's dispensations. In dis-
tinctness and precision, however, simple prophecy has greatly
the advantage over informations conveyed by type. For pro-
phecy, however it may differ in its general characteristics from
history, as it naturally possesses something of the directness, so it
may also descend to something of the definiteness, of historical
description. But types having a significance or moral import of
their own, apart from anything prospective, must, in their pro-
phetical aspect, be somewhat less transparent, and possess more
of a complicated character. Still the relation between type and
antitype, when pursued through all its ramifications, may pro-
duce as deep a conviction of design and pre-ordained connec-
tion, as can be derived from simple prophecy and its fulfilment,
though, from the nature of things, the evidence in the latter case
must always be more obvious and palpable than in the former.

But the possession of the same common character is not the
only link of connection between type and prophecy. Not only
do they agree in having both a prospective reference to the
future, but they are often also combined into one prospective
exhibition of the future. Prophecy, though it sometimes is of
a quite simple and direct nature, is not always, nor even com-

138 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

monly, of this description ; it can scarcely ever be said to deli-
neate the future with the precision and exactness that history
employs in recording the past. In many portions of it there is
a certain degree of complexity, if not dubiety, and that mainly
arising from the circumstances and transactions of the past
being in some way interwoven with its anticipations of things
to come. Here, however, we approach the confines of a con-
troversy on which some of the greatest minds have expended
their talents and learning, and with such doubtful success on
either side, that the question is still perpetually brought up anew
for discussion, whether there is or is not a double senso in pro-
phecy ? That some portion of debateable ground will always
remain connected with the subject, appears to us more than
probable. But, at the same time, we are fully persuaded that
the portion admits of being greatly narrowed in extent, and
even reduced to such small dimensions as not materially to
affect the settlement of the main question, if only the typical
element in prophecy is allowed its due place and weight. This
we shall endeavour, first of all, to exhibit in the several aspects
in which it actually presents itself ; and shall then subjoin a
few remarks on the views of those who espouse either side of
the question, as it is usually stated.

From the general resemblance between type and prophecy,
we are prepared to expect that they may sometimes run into
each other ; and especially, that the typical in action may in
various ways form the groundwork and the materials by means
of which the prophetic in word gave forth its intimations of the
coming future. And this, it is quite conceivable, may have
been done under any of the following modifications. 1. A
typical action might, in some portion, of the prophetic word, be.
historically mentioned ; and hence the mention being that of a
prophetical circumstance or event, would come to possess a pro-
phetical character. 2. Or something typical in the past or the
present might be represented in a distinct prophetical announce-
ment, as going to appear again in the future ; thus combining
together the typical in act and the prophetical in word. 3. Or
the typical, not expressly and formally, but in its essential rela-
tions and principles, might be embodied in an accompanying
prediction, which foretold things corresponding in nature, but

COMBINATION OF TYPE WITH PEOPHECY. 139

far higher and gn ater in importance. 4. Or, finally, the typical
might itself be still future, and in a prophetic word might be
partly described, partly presupposed, as a vantage-ground for
the delineation of other things still more distant, to which, when
it occurred, it was to stand in the relation of type to antitype.
We could manifestly have no difficulty in conceiving such com-
binations of type with prophecy, without any violence done to
their distinctive properties, or any invasion made on their re-
spective provinces; nothing, indeed, happening but what might
have been expected from their mutual relations, and their fitness
for being employed in concert to the production of common
ends. And we shall now show how each of the suppositions
has found its verification in the prophetic Scriptures.1

I. The first supposition is that of a typical action being histo-
rically mentioned in the prophetic word, and the mention, being
that of a prophetical circumstance or event, thence coming to
possess a prophetical character. There are two classes of scrip-
tures which may be said to verify this supposition, one of which
is of a somewhat general ami comprehensive nature, so that the
fulfilment is not necessarily confined, to any single person or
period, though it could not fail in an especial manner to appear
in the personal history of Christ. To this class belong such re-
corded experiences as the following : — ' The zeal of Thine house
hath eaten me up;'2 'lie that eateth bread with me hath lifted
up his heel against me;'3 'They hated me without a cause:'1
'The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the
corner.' ' These passages are all distinctly referred to Christ in
the Gospels, and the things that befell Him are expressly said or
plainly indicated to have happened, that such scriptures might
be fulfilled. Yet, as originally penned, they assume the form of

1 It is proper to state, however, that we cannot present here anything
like a fuil ami complete elucidation of the Bubjeci : and we therefore mean
to supplement this chapter by an Appendix on the "M Testament In the
New. in which the Bubjeot will both be conaid< red from a different poinl
. and followed out i e into detail See Appendix A.

- Pb. Ixix. 'J ; comp. with John ii. 17.

3 IV. xli. '.i ; comp. with John xiii. 18.

' IV. Ixix. l ; comp. with John xv. 25.

6 IV. cxviii 22 ; com]/, with Matt. xxi. 12, 1 Pet. ii. C, 7.

140 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

historical statements rather than of prophetical announcements
— recorded experiences on the part of those who indited them,
and experiences of a kind that, in one form or another, could
scarcely fail to be often recurring in the history of God's Church
and people. As such it might have seemed enough to say that
they contained general truths which were exemplified also in
Jesus, when travailing in the work of man's redemption. But
the convictions of Jesus Himself and the inspired writers of the
New Testament go beyond this ; they perceive a closer connec-
tion— a prophetical element in the passages, which must find its
due fulfilment in the personal experience of Christ. And this
the passages contained, simply from their being, in their imme-
diate and historical reference, descriptive of what belonged to
characters — David and Israel — that bore typical relations to
Christ ; so that their being descriptive in the one respect neces-
sarily implied their being prophetic in the other. What had
formerly taken place in the experience of. the type, must sub-
stantially renew itself again in the experience of the great anti-
type, whatever other and inferior renewals it may find besides.

To the same class also may be referred the passage in Ps.
lxxviii. 2, ' I will open my mouth in a parable (lit. similitude) ;
I will utter dark sayings (lit. riddles) of old,' which in Matt,
xiii. 35 is spoken of as a prediction that found, and required to
find, its fulfilment in our Lord's using the parabolic mode of
discourse. As an utterance in the seventy-eighth Psalm, the
word simply records a fact, but a fact essentially connected
with the discharge of the prophetical office, and therefore sub-
stantially indicating what must be met with in Him in whom
all prophetical endowments were to have their highest mani-
festation. Every prophet may be said to speak in similitudes
or parables in the sense here indicated, which is comprehen-
sive of all discourses upon divine things, delivered in figurative
terms or an elevated style, and requiring more than common
discernment to understand it aright. The parables of our
Lord formed one species of it, but not by any means the only
one. It was the common prophetico-poetical diction, which was
characterized, not only by the use of measured sentences, but
also by the predominant employment of external forms and
natural similitudes. But marking as it did the possession of a

COMBINATION OF T\TE WITH PHOPHECY. Ul

prophetical gift, the record of its employment by Christ's pro-
phetical types and forerunners was a virtual prediction that it
should be ultimately used in some appropriate form by Himself.

The other class of passages which comes within the terms of
the first supposition, is of a more specific and formal character.
It coincides with the class already considered, in so far as it
consists of words originally descriptive of some transaction or
circumstance in the past, but afterwards regarded as propheti-
cally indicative of something similar under the Gospel. Such
is the word in IIos. xi. 1, 'I called my son out of Egypt,1 whirl),
as uttered by the prophet, was an questionably meant to refer
historically to the fact of the Lord's goodness in delivering
I rael from that land of bondage and oppression. But the
Evangelist Matthew expressly points to it as a prophecy, and
tells us that the infant Jesus was for a time sent into Egypt,
and again brought out of it, that the word miedrt be fulfilled.
This arose from the typical connection between Christ and
I -rael. The scripture fulfilled was prophetical, simply because
the circumstance it recorded was typical. But in so considering
it, the Evangelist puts no peculiar strain upon its terms, nor
introduces any sort of double sense into its import. He merely
points to the prophetical element involved in the transaction it
relates, and thereby discovers to us a bond of connection between
the Old and the New in God's dispensations, necessary to be
kept in view for a correct apprehension of both.

The same explanation in substance may be given of another
tmple of the same class — the word in Exod. xii. 46, ' A bone
of him shall not be broken,' which in .John xix. 36 is represented
as finding its fulfilment in the remarkable preservation of our
Lord's body on the cross from the common fate of malefactors.
The scripture in itself was a historical testimony regarding the
treatment the Israelites were to give to the paschal lamb, which,
instead of being broken into fragments, was to be preserved
entire, and eaten as one whole. It could oidy be esteemed a
prophecy from being the record of a typical or prophetical
action. But, when viewed in that light, the scripture itself
stands precisely as it did, without any recondite depth or subtile
ambiguity being thrown into its meaning. For the prophecy
in it is found, not by extracting from its words some new and

142 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

hidden sense, but merely by noting the typical import of the
circumstances of which the words in their natural and obvious
sense are descriptive.

How either Israel or the paschal lamb should have been in
such a sense typical of Christ, that what is recorded of the one
could be justly regarded as a prophecy of what was to take
place in the other, will be matter for future inquiry, and, in
connection with some other prophecies, will be partly explained
in the Appendix already referred to in this chapter. It is the
2'>rinciple on which the explanation must proceed, to which alone
for the present we desire to draw attention, and which, in the
cases now under consideration, simply recognises the prophetical
element involved in the recorded circumstance or transaction of
the past. Neither is the Old Testament Scripture, taken by
itself, prophetical ; nor does the New Testament Scripture in-
vest it with a force and meaning foreign to its original purport
and design. The Old merely records the typical fact, which
properly constitutes the whole there is of prediction in the
matter; while the New reads forth its import as such, by an-
nouncing the correlative events or circumstances in which the
fulfilment should be discovered. And nothing more is needed
for perfectly harmonizing the two together, than that we should
so far identify the typical transaction recorded with the record
that embodies it, as to perceive that when the Gospel speaks of
a scripture fulfilled, it speaks of that scripture in connection
with the prophetical character of the subject it relates to.

There is nothing, surely, strange or anomalous in this. It
is but the employment of a metonymy of a very common kind,
according to which what embodies or contains anvthinj; is
viewed as in a manner one with the thing itself — as when the
earth is made to stand for the inhabitants of the earth, a house
for its inmates, a cup for its contents, a word descriptive of
events past or to come, as if it actually produced them.1 Of
course, the validity of such a mode of explanation depends

1 So, for example, in Hos. vi. 5, ' I Lave hewed them by the prophets ;'
Geu. xxvii. 37, 'Behold, I have made him thy lord;' xlviii. 22, 'I have
given thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of
the Amorite' — each ascribing to the word spoken the actual doing of that
which it only declared to have been done.

COMBINATION OF TYPE WITH PROPHECY. 1 L3

entirely upon the reality of the connection between the alleged
type and antitype — between the earlier circumstance or object
icribed, and the later one to which the description is prophe-
tically applied. On any other ground such references as those
in the one Evangelist to Hosea, and in the other to Exodus,
can only be viewed as fanciful or strained accommodations.
But the matter assumes another aspect if the one was originally
ordained in anticipation of the other, and so ordained that the
earlier should not have been brought into existence if the later
had not been before in contemplation. Seen from this point
of view, which we take to have been that of the inspired
writers, the past appears to run into the future, and to havo
existed mainly on its account. And the record or delineation
of the past is naturally and justly, not by a mere fiction of the
imagination, held to possess the essential character of a pre-
diction. Embodying a prophetical circumstance or action, it
is itself named by one of the commonest figures of speech, a
prophecy.

II. Our second supposition was that of something typical in
the past or present being represented in a distinct prophetical
announcement as going to appear again in the future, — the
prophetical in word being thus combined with the typical in
act into a prospective delineation of things to come. This sup-
position also includes several varieties, and in one form or
another has its exemplifications in many parts of the prophetic
word. For it is in a manner the native tendency of the mind,
when either of itself forecasting, or under the guidance of a
divine impulse anticipating and disclosing the future, to see
this future imaged in the past, to make use of the known in
giving shape and form to the unknown ; so that the things
which have been are then usually contemplated as in some
respect, types of what shall be, even though in the reality th
may be considerable differences of a formal kind between them.

How much it is the native tendency of the mind to work in
this manner, when itself endeavouring to descry the events of
the future, is evident from the examples transmitted to us by
the most cultivated minds, of human divination. Thus the
Pythoness in Virgil, when disclosing to JEneaa what he and his

144 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

posterity might expect in Latium, speaks of it merely as a re-
petition of the scenes and experiences of former times. ' You
shall not want Simois, Xanthus, or the Grecian camp. Another
Achilles, also of divine offspring, is already provided for Latium.' l
In like manner Juno, in the vaticination put into her mouth by
Horace respecting the possible destinies of Rome, declares that
in the circumstances supposed, ' the fortune of Troy again re-
viving, should again also be visited with terrible disaster ; and
that even if a wall of brass were thrice raised around it, it should
be thrice destroyed by the Greeks.'2 In such examples of pre-
tended divination, no one, of course, imagines it to have been
meant that the historical persons and circumstances mentioned
were to be actually reproduced in the approaching or contem-
plated future. All we are to understand is, that others of a like
kind — holding similar relations to the parties interested, and
occupying much the same position — were announced before-
hand to appear ; and so would render the future a sort of
repetition of the past, or the past a kind of typical foreshadow-
ing of the future.

As an example of divine predictions precisely similar in
form, we may point to Hos. viii. 13, where the prophet, speak-
ing of the Lord's purpose to visit the sins of Israel with chas-
tisement, says, ' They shall return to Egypt.' The old state of
bondage and oppression should come back upon them ; or the
things going to befall them of evil should be after the type
of what their forefathers had experienced under the yoke of
Pharaoh. Yet that the new should not be by any means the
exact repetition of the old, as it might have been conjectured
from the altered circumstances of the time, so it is expressly
intimated by the prophet himself a few verses afterwards, when
he says, ' Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat
unclean things in Assyria' (ch. ix. 3) ; and again in ch. xi. 5,
' He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian

1 Non Simois tibi, nee Xanthus, nee Dorica castra
Defuerint. Alius Latio jam partus Achilles,
Natus et ipse dea. — JEn. vi. 88-90.

2 Trojse renascens alite lugubri

Fortuna tristi clade iterabitur, etc. — Carm. lib. iii. 3, 61 -G8.
See also Seneca, Medea, 374, etc.

COMBINATION OF T\TE WITH PROPHECY. 1 15

shall be his king.' He shall return to Egypt, and still not
return ; in other words, the Egypt-state shall come Lack on
him, though the precise locality and external circumstances
shall differ. In like manner Ezekiel, in ch. iv., foretells, in his
own peculiar and mystical way, the return of the Egypt-state ;
and in ch. xx. speaks of the Lord as going to bring the people
again into the wilderness ; but calls it ' the wilderness of the
peoples,' to indicate that the dealing should be the same only in
character with what Israel of old had been subjected to in the
desert, not a bald and formal repetition of the story.

Indeed, God's providence knows nothing in the sacred any
more than in the profane territory of the world's history, of a
literal reproduction of the past. And when prophecy threw its
delineations of the future into the form of the past, and spake
of the things yet to be as a recurrence of those that had already
been, it simply meant that the one should be after the type of
the other, or should in spirit and character resemble it. By
type, however, in such examples as those just referred to, is not
to be understood type in the more special or theological sense in
which the term is commonly used in the present discussions, as
if there was anything in the past that of itself gave prophetic
intimation of the coming future. It is to be understood only
in the general sense of a pattern-form, in accordance with which
the events in prospect were to bear the image of the past. The
prophetical element, therefore, did not properly reside in the
historical transaction referred to in the prophecy, but in the
prophetic word itself, which derived its peculiar form from the
past, and through that a certain degree of light to illustrate its
import. There were, however, other cases in which the typical
in circumstance or action — the typical in the proper sense — was
similarly combined with a prophecy in word; and in them we
have a twofold prophetic element — one more concealed in the
type, and another more express ami definite in the word, but the
two made to coalesce in one prediction.

Of this kind is the prophecy in Zech. vi. 12, 13, where the
prophet takes occasion, from the building of the literal temple
in Jerusalem under the presidency of Joshua, to foretell a simi-
lar but higher and more glorious work in the future: ( Behold
the man, whose name is the Branch ; and He shall grow up out

VOL. I. K

146 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

of His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord ; even
lie shall build the temple of the Lord,' etc. The building of
the temple was itself typical of the incarnation of God in the
person of Christ, and of the raising up in Him of a spiritual
house that should be 'an habitation of God through the Spirit.'1
But the prophecy thus involved in the action is expressly
uttered in the prediction, which at once explained the type, and
sent forward the expectations of believers toward the contem-
plated result. Similar, also, is the prediction of Ezekiel, in
ch. xxxiv. 23, in which the good promised in the future to a
truly penitent and believing people, is connected with a return
of the person and times of David : l And I will set up one
shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant
David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.'
And the closing prediction of Malachi : ' Behold, I will send
you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and
dreadful day of the Lord*' David's kingdom and reign in
Israel were from the first intended to foreshadow those of
Christ ; and the work also of Elias, as preparatory to the Lord's
final reckoning with the apostate commonwealth of Israel, bore
a typical respect to the work of preparation that was to go before
the Lord's personal appearance in the last crisis of the Jewish
state. Such might have been probably conjectured or dimly
apprehended from the things themselves ; but it became com-
paratively clear, when it was announced in explicit predictions,
that a new David and a new Elias were to appear. The pro-
phetical element was there before in the type ; but the prophe-
tical word brought it distinctly and prominently out ; yet so as
in no respect to materially change or complicate the meaning.
The specific designation of * David, my servant,' and * Elijah
the prophet,' are in each case alike intended to indicate, not the
literal reproduction of the past, but the full realization of all
that the past typically foretokened of good. It virtually told
the people of God, that in their anticipations of the coming
reality, they might not fear to heighten to the uttermost the
idea which those honoured names were fitted to suggest ; their
anticipations would be amply borne out by the event, in which
still higher prophecy than Elijah's, and unspeakably nobler
1 John ii. 19 ; Matt. xvi. 18 ; Eph. ii. 20, 22.

COMBINATION OF TYrE WITH PROPHECY. 147

service than David's, was to be found in reserve for the
Church.1

III. We pass on to our third supposition, which may seem
to be nearly identical with the last, yet belongs to a stage further
in advance. It is that the typical, not expressly and formally,
but in its essential relations and principles, might be embodied
in an accompanying prediction, which foretold things corre-
sponding in nature, but of higher moment and wider import. So
far this supposed case coincides with the last, that in that also
the tilings predicted might be, and, if referring to Gospel times,
actually were, higher and greater than those of the type. But
it differs, in that this superiority did not there, as it does here,
appear in the terms of the prediction, which simply announced the
recurrence of the type. And it differs still further, in that there
the type was expressly and formally introduced into the prophecy,
while here it is tacitly assumed, and only its essential relations
and principles are applied to the delineation of some things
analogous and related, but conspicuously loftier and greater.
In this case, then, the typical transactions furnishing the mate-
rials for the prophetical delineation, must necessarily form the
background, and the explanatory prediction the foreground, of
the picture. The words of the prophet must describe not the
typical past, but the corresponding and grander future, — describe
it, however, under the form of the past, and in connection with
the same fundamental views of the divine character and govern-
ment. So that there must here also be but one sense, though
a twofold prediction : one more vague and indefinite, standing
in the type or prophetic action ; the other more precise and de-
finite, furnished by the prophetic word, and directly pointing to
the greater things to come.

1 Those who contend for the actual reappearance of Elijah, because the
epithet of ' the prophet,' they think, fixes down the meaning to the per-
sonal Elijah, may as well contend for the reappearance of David as the
future king; for 'David, my servant,' is as distinctive an appellation of the
one, as 'Elijah the prophet' of the other. But in reality they are thus
specified as both exhibiting the highest known ideal — the one of king-like
service, the other of prophetic work as preparatory to a divine manifestation.
And in thinking of them, the people could get the most correct view they
were capable of entertaining of the predicted future.

148 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

The supposition now made is actually verified in a consider-
able number of prophetical scriptures. Connected with them,
and giving rise to them, there were certain circumstances and
events so ordered by God as to be in a greater or less degree
typical of others under the Gospel. And there was a prophecy
linking the two together, by taking up the truths and relations
embodied in the type, and expanding them so as to embrace the
higher and still future things of God's kingdom, — thus at once
indicating the typical design of the past, and announcing in
appropriate terms the coming events of the future.

Let us point, in the first instance, to an illustrative example,
in which the typical element, indeed, was comparatively vague
and general, but which has the advantage of being the first, if
we mistake not, of this species of prophecy, and in some measure
gave the tone to those that followed. The example we refer
to is the song of Hannah,1 indited by that pious woman under
the inspiration of God, on the occasion of the birth of Samuel.
The history leaves no room to doubt that this was its immediate
occasion ; yet, if viewed in reference to that occasion alone,
how comparatively trifling is the theme ! How strained and
magniloquent the expressions ! Hannah speaks of her ' mouth
being enlarged over her enemies,' of ' the bows of the mighty
men being broken,' of the ' barren bearing seven,' of the ' full
hiring themselves out for bread,' and other things of a like
nature, — all how far exceeding, and we might even say carica-
turing, the occasion, if it has respect merely to the fact of a
woman, hitherto reputed barren, becoming at length the joyful
mother of a child ! Were the song an example of the inflated
style not uncommon in Eastern poetry, we might not be greatly
startled at such grotesque exaggerations ; but being a portion
of that word which is all given by inspiration of God, and is
as silver tried in a furnace, we must banish from our mind
any idea of extravagance or conceit. Indeed, from the whole
strain and character of the song, it is evident that, though
occasioned by the birth of Samuel, it was so far from having
exclusive reference to that event, that the things concerning
it formed one only of a numerous and important class per-
vading the providence of God, and closely connected with

1 1 Sam. ii. 1-10.

COMBINATION OF TYPE WITH PROPHECY. 149

1 1 is highest purposes. In a spiritual respect it was a time of
mournful barrenness and desolation in Israel : • the word of the
Lord was precious, there was no open vision;' and iniquity was
so rampant as even to be lifting up its insolent front, and
practising its foul abominations in the very precincts of the
sanctuary. How natural, then, for Hannah, when she had got
that child of desire and hope, which she had devoted from his
birth as a Nazarite to the Lord's service, and feeling her soul
moved by a prophetic impulse, to regard herself as specially
raised up to be ( a sign and a wonder ' to Israel, and to do so
particularly in respect to that principle in the divine govern-
ment, which had so strikingly developed itself in her experience,
but which was destined to receive its grandest manifestation in
the work and kingdom which were to be more peculiarly the
Lord's ! Hence, instead of looking exclusively to her individual
case, and marking the operation of the Lord's hand in what
simply concerned her personal history, she wings her flight
aloft, and takes a comprehensive survey of the general scheme
of God ; noting especially, as she proceeds, the workings of that
pure and gracious sovereignty which delights to exalt a humble
piety, while it pours contempt on the proud and rebellious.
And as every exercise of this principle is but part of a grand
series which culminates in the dispensation of Christ, her song
runs out at the close into a sublime and glowing delineation of
the final results to be achieved by it in connection with His
righteous administration. * The adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces ; out of heaven shall He thunder upon
them : the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth ; and He
shall give strength unto His king, and exalt the horn of His
anointed.' '

1 The last clause might as well, and indeed better, have been rendered,
'Exalt the horn of His Messiah.' Even the Jewish interpreter, Kimchi,
understands it as spoken directly of the Messiah, and the Targnm para-
phrases, ' He shall multiply the kingdom of Messiah.' It is the first pas-
sage of Scripture where the word occurs in its more distinctim and
is used as a synonym fur the consecrated or divine king. It may seem
strange that Hannah should have been the first to introduce this epithet,
and to point so directly to the destined head of the divine kingdom : it will
even he inexplicable, unless we understand her to have been raised up for a
' sign and a wonder' to Israel, and to have spoken as Bhe was moved by

150 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

This song of Hannah, then, plainly consists of two parts, in
the one of which only — the concluding portion — it is properly
prophetical. The preceding stanzas are taken up with unfold-
ing, from past and current events, the grand spiritual idea : the
closing ones carry it forward in beautiful and striking applica-
tion to the affairs of Messiah's kingdom. In the earlier part it
presents to us the germ of sacred principle unfolded in the type ;
in the latter, it exhibits this rising to its ripened growth and
perfection in the final exaltation and triumph of the King of
Zion. The two differ in respect to the line of things imme-
diately contemplated, — the facts of history in the one case, in
the other the anticipations of prophecy ; but they agree in being
alike pervaded by one and the same great principle, which, after
floating down the stream of earthly providences, is represented
as ultimately settling and developing itself with resistless energy
in the affairs of Messiah's kingdom. And as if to remove every
shadow of doubt as to this being the purport and design of
Hannah's song, when we open the record of that better era,
which she but descried in the remote distance, we find the
Virgin Mary, in her song of praise at the announcement of
Messiah's birth, re-echoing the sentiments, and sometimes even
repeating the very words, of the mother of Samuel : ' My soul
doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my
Saviour. For He hath regarded the low estate of His hand-
maiden. He hath showed strength with His arm : He hath
scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath
put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low
degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things ; and the
rich He hath sent empty away. He hath holpen His servant
Israel, in remembrance of His mercy ; as He spake to our
fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.' Why should
the Spirit, breathing at such a time in the soul of Mary, have
turned her thoughts so nearly into the channel that had been
struck out ages before by the pious Hannah ? Or why should

the Holy Ghost. But the other expressions, especially ' the adversaries of
the Lord shall be destroyed, and the ends of the earth shall be judged,'
show that it really was of the kingdom as possessed of such a head that she
spoke. And the idea of Grotius and the Rationalists, that she referred in
the first instance to Saul, cannot be sustained.

COMBINATION OF TYPE WITH PEOPHECT. 151

tlic circumstances connected with the birth of Hannah's Nazarite
offspring have proved the occasion of strains which so distinctly
pointed to the manifestation of the King of Glory, and so closely
harmonized with those actually sung in celebration of the event?
Doubtless to mark the connection really subsisting between the
two. It is the Spirit's own intimation of His ulterior design in
transactions long since past, and testimonies delivered centuries
before — namely, to herald the advent of Messiah, and familiarize
the children of the kingdom with the essential character of the
coming dispensation.1

Hannah's song was the first specimen of that combination
of prophecy with type which is now under consideration ; but
it was soon followed by others, in which both the prophecy was
more extended, and the typical element in the transactions that
gave rise to it was more marked and specific. The examples
we refer to are to be found in the Messianic psalms, which also
resemble the song of Hannah in being of a lyrical character,
and thence admitting of a freer play of feeling on the part of
the individual writer than could fitly be introduced into simple
prophecy. But this, again, principally arose from the close con-
nection typically between the present and the future, whereby

1 The view now given of Hannah's song presents it in a much higher,
as we conceive it does also in a truer light, than that exhibited by Bishop
Jebb, who speaks of it iu a style that seems scarcely compatible with any
proper belief in its inspiration. The song appears, in his estimation, to
have been the mere effusion of Hannah's private and, in great part, un-
sanctified feelings. 'We cannot but feel,' he says, 'that her exultation
partook largely of a spirit far beneath that which enjoins the love of our
enemies, and which forbids personal exultation over a fallen foe.' He re-
gards it as ' unquestionable, that previous sufferings had not thoroughly

lued her temper, — that she could not suppress the workings of a retali-
ative spirit, — and was thus led to dwell, not on the peaceful glories of liis
(Samuel's) priestly and prophetic rule, but on his future triumphs over the
Philistine armies' (Sacred Literature, p. 897). If such were indeed the
character of Hannah's song, we may be assured it would not have been
80 closely imitated by the blessed Virgin. But it is manifestly wrong to
regard Hannah as speaking of her merely personal enemies,— her 1;
would otherwise be chargeable with vicious extravagance, as well as un-
sanetified feeling. She identifies herself throughout with the Lord's OS
and people; and it is simply her sea] for ri-hteousucss which cxpn
i in a spirit of exultation over prostrate enemies.

152 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the feelings originated by the one naturally incorporated them-
selves with the delineation of the other. And as it was the in-
stitution of the temporal kingdom in the person and house of
David which here formed the ground and the occasion of the
prophetic delineation, there was no part of the typical arrange-
ments under the ancient dispensation which more fully admitted,
or, to prevent misapprehension, more obviously required, the
accompaniment of a series of lyrical prophecies such as that
contained in the Messianic psalms.

For the institution of a temporal kingdom in the hands of
an Israelitish family involved a very material change in the
external framework of the theocracy; and a change that of
itself was fitted to rivet the minds of the people more to the
earthly and visible, and take them off from the heavenly and
eternal. The constitution under which they were placed before
the appointment of a king, though it did not absolutely pre-
clude such an appointment, yet seemed as if it would rather
suffer than be improved by so broad and palpable an introduc-
tion of the merely human element. It was till then a theocracy
in the strictest sense ; a commonwealth that had no recognised
head but God, and placed everything essentially connected with
life and wellbeing under His immediate presidence and direc-
tion. The land of the covenant was emphatically God's land x
— the people that dwelt in it were His peculiar property and
heritage 2 — the laws which they were bound to obey were His
statutes -and judgments3 — and the persons appointed to inter-
pret and administer them were His representatives, and on this
account even sometimes bore His name.4 It was the peculiar
and distinguishing glory of Israel as a nation, that they stood
in this near relationship to God, and that which more especially
called forth the rapturous eulogy of Moses,5 l Happy art thou,
O Israel : who is like unto thee ! The eternal God is thy refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.' It was a glory,
however, which the people themselves were too carnal for the
most part to estimate aright, and of which they never appeared

J Lev. xxv. 23 ; Ps. x. 16 ; Isa. xiv. 25 ; Jer. ii. 7, etc.

2 Ex. xix. 5 ; Ps. xoiv. 5 ; Jer. ii. 7 ; Joel iii. 2.

8 Ex. xv. 26, xviii. 16, etc. 4 Ex. xxii. 28; Ps. lxxxii. 6.

* Deut. xxxiii. 27, 29.

COMBINATION OF TYPE WITH PBOPHECY. 153

more insensible than when they sought to be like the Gentiles,
by having a king appointed over them. For what was it but,
in effect, to seek that they might lose their peculiar distinction
among the nations? that God might retire to a greater distance
from them, and might no longer be their immediate guardian
and sovereign ?

Nor was this the only evil likely to arise out of the proposed
change. Everything under the Old Covenant bore reference
to the future and more perfect dispensation of the Gospel ; and
the ultimate reason of any important feature or material change
in respect to the former, can never be understood without taking
into account the bearing it mmht have on the future state and
prospects of men under the Gospel. But how could any change
in the constitution of ancient Israel, and especially such a
change as the people contemplated, when they desired a king
after the manner of the Gentiles, be adopted without altering
matters in this respect to the worse ? The dispensation of the
Gospel was to be, in a peculiar sense, the ' kingdom of heaven,'
or of God, having for its high end and aim the establishment
of a near and blessed intercourse between God and men. It
attains to its consummation when the vision seen by St. John,
and described after the pattern of the constitution actually set
up in the wilderness, conies into fulfilment — when 'the taber-
nacle of God is with men, and lie dwells with them.' Of this
consummation it was a striking and impressive image that was
presented in the original structure of the Israelitish common-
wealth, wherein God Himself sustained the office of khi£, and
had His peculiar residence and appropriate manifestations of
glory in the midst of His people. And when they, in their
carnal affection for a worldly institute, clamoured for an earthly
sovereign, they not only discovered a lamentable indifference
towards what constituted their highest honour, but betrayed
also a want of discernment and faith in regard to God's pro-
spective and ultimate design in connection with their provisional
economy. They gave conclusive proof that ' they did not see
to the end of that which was to be abolished,1 and preferred a
request which, if granted according to their expectation, would
in a most important respect have defeated the object of their
theocratic constitution.

154 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

We need not, therefore, be surprised that God should have
expressed His dissatisfaction with the proposal made by the
people for the appointment of a king to them, and should have
regarded it as a substantial rejection of Himself, and a desire
that He should not reign over them.1 But why, then, did
He afterwards accede to it? And why did He make choice
of the things connected with it, as a historical occasion and
a typical ground for shadowing forth the nature and glories
of Messiah's kingdom? The divine procedure in this, though
apparently capricious, was in reality marked by the highest
wisdom, and affords one of the finest examples to be found
in Old Testament history of that overruling providence, by
which God so often averts the evil which men's devices are
fitted to produce, and renders them subservient to the greatest
good.

The appointment of a king as the earthly head of the com-
monwealth, we have said, was not absolutely precluded by the
theocratic constitution. It was from the first contemplated by
Moses as a thing which the people would probably desire, and
in which they were not to be gainsayed, but were only to be
directed into the proper method of reaching the end in view.2
It was even possible — if the matter was rightly gone about,
and the divine sanction obtained respecting it — to turn it to
profitable account, by familiarizing the minds of men with
what was destined to form the grand feature of the Messiah's
kingdom — the personal indwelling of the divine in the human
nature — and so to acquire for it the character of an important
step in the preparatory arrangements for the kingdom. This is
what was actually done. After the people had been solemnly
admonished of their guilt in requesting the appointment of a
king on their worldly principles, they were allowed to raise one
of their number to the throne — not, however, as absolute and
independent sovereign, but only as the deputy of Jehovah ;
that he might simply rule in the name, and in subordination
to the will, of God.3 For this reason his throne was called
'the throne of the Lord,'4 on which, as the Queen of Sheba

1 1 Sam. viii. 7. 2 Deut. xvii. 14-20.

3 See Warbur ton's Legation of Moses, B. v. § 3.

4 1 Cliron. xxix. 23.

COMBINATION OF TYPE WITH PROHIECY. 155

expressed it to Solomon, he was 'set to be king for the Lord
his God;'1 and the kingly government itself was afterwards
designated 'the kingdom of the Lord.'2 For the same reason,
no doubt, it was that Samuel 'wrote in a book the manner of
the kingdom, and laid it up before the Lord;'3 that the testi-
mony in behalf of its derived and vicegerent nature might be
perpetuated. And to render the divine purpose in this respect
manifest to all who had eyes to see and ears to hear, the Lord
allowed the choice first to fall on one who — as the representative
of the people's earthly wisdom and prowess — was little disposed
to rule in humble subordination to the will and authority of
Heaven, and was therefore supplanted by another who should
act as God's representative, and bear distinctively the name of
His servant.*

It was, therefore, in this second person, David, that the
kingly administration in Israel properly began. He was the
root and founder of the kingdom — as a kingdom, in which
the divine and human stood first in an official, as they were
ultimately to stand in a personal union. And to make the
preparatory and the final in this respect properly harmonize
and adapt themselves to each other, the Lord, in the first
instance, ordered matters connected with the institution of the
kingly government, so as to render the beginning an image of
the end — typical throughout of Messiah's work and kingdom.
And then, lest the typical bearing of things should be lost
sight of in consequence of their present interest or importance,
He gave in connection with them the word of prophecy, which,
proceeding on the ground of their typical import, pointed the
expectations of the Church to corresponding but far higher
and greater things still to come. In this way, what must
otherwise have tended to veil the purpose of God, and obstruct
the main design of His preparatory dispensation, was turned
into one of the most effective means of revealing and pro-
moting it. The earthly head, that now under God stood over

1 2 Chron. ix. 8. 2 2 Chron. xiii. 8. 3 1 Sam. x. 25.

4 This appellation is used of David far more frequently than of any
Other person. Upwards of thirty times it is expressly spoken of David;
and in the Psalms he is ever presenting himself in the character of the
Lord's servant.

156 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the members of the commonwealth, instead of overshadowing
His authority, only presented this more distinctly to their view,
and served as a stepping-stone to faith, in enabling it to rise
nearer to the apprehension of that personal indwelling of God-
head, which was to constitute the foundation and the glory of
the Gospel dispensation. For occasion was taken to unfold the
more glorious future in its principal features with an air of
individuality and distinctness, with a variety of detail and
vividness of colouring, not to be met with in any other portions
of prophetic Scripture.

We refer for illustration to a single example of this com-
bination of prophecy with type (others will be noticed, and in
a somewhat different connection, in the Appendix) — the second
Psalm. The production as to form is a kind of inaugural
hymn, intended to celebrate the appointment and final tri-
umph of Jehovah's king. The heathen nations are represented
as foolishly opposing it (vers. 1, 2) ; they agree among them-
selves, if the appointment should be made, practically to disown
and resist it (ver. 3) ; the Almighty, however, perseveres in His
purpose, scorning the rebellious opposition of such impotent
adversaries (ver. 4) ; the eternal decree goes forth, that the
anointed King is enthroned on Zion ; that, being Jehovah's Son,
He is made the heir of all things, even to the uttermost bounds
of the habitable globe (vers. 5-9). And in consideration of
what has thus been decreed and ratified in heaven, the psalm
concludes with a word of friendly counsel and admonition to
earthly potentates and rulers, exhorting them to submit in time
to the sway of this glorious King, and forewarning them of the
inevitable ruin of resistance. That in all this we can trace
the lines of Messiah's history, is obvious at a glance. Even
the old Jewish doctors, as we learn by the quotation from
Solomon Jarchi, given by Venema, agreed that 'it should be
expounded of King Messiah;' but he adds, 'In accordance
with the literal sense, and that it may be used against the
heretics (i.e. Christians), it is proper to explain it as relating
to David himself.' Strange that this idea, the offspring of
rabbinical artifice, seeking to withdraw an argument from the
cause of Christianity, should have so generally commended
itself to Christian interpreters ! But if by literal sense is to be

COMBINATION OF TYPE WITH PROPHECY. 157

understood the plain and natural import of the words employed,
what ground is therefor such an interpretation? David was
not opposed in his elevation to the throne of Israel by heathen
nations or rulers, who knew and cared comparatively little about
it : nor was his being anointed king coincident with his being
set on the holy hill of Zion ; nor, after being established in the
kingdom, did he ever dream of pressing any claims of dominion
on the kings and rulers of the earth: his wars were uniformly
wars of defence, and not of conquest. So palpable, indeed, is
the discordance between the lines of David's history and the
lofty terms of the psalm, that the opinion which ascribes it in
the literal sense to David, may now be regarded as comparatively
antiquated; and some even of those who formerly espoused it
(such as llosenm tiller), have at length owned that 'it cannot
well be understood as applying either to David or to Solomon,
much less to any of the later Hebrew kings, and that the judg-
ment of the more ancient Hebrews is to be followed, who con-
sidered it as a celebration of the mighty King whom they
expected under the name of the Messiah.'

But has the psalm, then, no connection with the life and
kingdom of David? Unquestionably it has; and a connection
so close, that what took place in him was at once the beginning
ind the image of what, amid higher relations, and on a more
< xtended scale, was to be accomplished in the subject of the
iisalm. While the terms in which the Kins and the kingdom
there celebrated are spoken of, stretch far above the line of
things that belonged to David, they yet bear throughout the
mark and impress of these. In both alike we see a sovereign
choice and fixed appointment, on the part of God, to the office
of king in the fullest sense among men — an opposition of the
most violent and heathenish nature to withstand and nullify the
appointment — the gradual and successive overthrow of all the
obstacles raised against the purpose of Heaven, and the exten-
sion of the sphere of empire (still partly future in the case of
Messiah) till it reached the limits of the divine grant. The
lines of history in the two cases are entirely parallel : there is
all the correspondence we expect between type and antitype:
but the prophecy which marks the connection between them,
while it was occasioned by the purpose of God respecting David,

158 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

and derived from his history the particular mould in which it
was cast, was applicable only to Him who, with the properties
of a human nature and an earthly throne, was to possess those
also of the heavenly and divine.

We shall not here go further into detail respecting this
class of prophecies, which belong chiefly to the Psalms ; but
we must remark, that as it was their object to explain the
typical character of David's calling and kingdom, and to con-
nect this with the higher things to come, we may reasonably
expect there will be some portions in the Messianic psalms
which are alike applicable to type and antitype ; and also
entire psalms, in which there may be room for doubting to
which of the two they may most fitly be referred. In some
the superhuman and divine properties of the Messiah's person
and kingdom are so broadly and characteristically delineated
(as in Ps. ii. xxii. xlv. lxxii. ex.), that it is impossible, by any
fair interpretation of the language, to understand the descrip-
tion of another than Christ. But there are others in which
the merely human elements are so strongly depicted (such as
Ps. xl. lxix. cix.), that not a few of the traits might doubtless
be found in the bearer also of the earthly kingdom ; while still
the excessive darkness of the picture, as a whole, on the one
side, and the magnitude of the results and interests connected
with it, on the other, shut us up to the conclusion that Christ,
in His work of humiliation and His kingdom of blessing and
glory, is the real subject of the prophecy. Viewed as an entire
and prospective delineation, the theme is still one, and the
sense not manifold, but simple. There are again others, how-
ever, of which Ps. xli. may be taken as a specimen, in which
the delineation throughout is as applicable to the bearer of the
earthly as to that of the heavenly kingdom ; so that, if re-
garded as a prophecy at all, it can only be in the way explained
under our first supposition, as a historical description of things
that happened under typical relations, from which they derived
a prophetical element.

Such varieties are no more than what might have been
expected in the class of sacred lyrics now under consideration ;
and the rather so, as they were composed for the devotional use
of the Church at a time when she required as well to be re-

COMBINATION OF T\TE WITH PROPHECY. 159

freshed and strengthened by the faith of the typical past, as to
be cheered and animated by the hope of the still grander anti-
typical future. It was necessary that she should be taught so
to look for the one as not to lose sight of the other ; but
rather, in what had already occurred, to find the root and
promise of what was to be hereafter. The word of Nathan to
David,1 which properly began the series, and laid the founda-
tion of further developments, presented the matter in this light.
David is there associated with his filial successor, as alike con-
nected with the institution of the kingdom in its primary and
inferior aspect; and the high honour was conceded to his house
of furnishing the royal dynasty that was destined to preside
for ever in God's name over the affairs of men. But this
for ever, emphatically used in the promise, evidently pointed to
a time when the relations of the kingdom, in its then pro-
visional and circumscribed form, should give way to others
immensely greater and higher. It pointed to a commingling
of the divine and human, the heavenly and the earthly, in
another manner than could possibly be realized in the case
either of David himself, or of any ordinary descendant from
his loins. And it became one of the leading objects of David's
prophetical calling, and of those who were his immediate suc-
cessors in the prophetical function, to unfold, after the manner
already described, something of that ulterior purpose of Heaven,
which, though included, was still but obscurely indicated, in
the fundamental prophecy of Nathan.2

1 2 Sam. vii. 4-1 G.

2 According to the view now given, there is no need for that alternat-
ing process which is so commonly resorted to in the explanation of Nathan's
prophecy, l>y which this one part is made to refer to Solomon and his im-
ni. •< I iate successors, and that other to Christ. There is no need for thus
formally splitting it up into portions, each pointing to different quail
The prophecy is to be taken as an organic whole, as the kingdom also
which it Bpeaks. David reigned in the Lord's name, and the Lord, in the
fulness of time, was born to occupy David's throne — a mutual interconnec-
tion. The kingdom throughout is God's, only exi.-ting in an embryo b)
while presided over by David and bis merely human descendants; and
rising to its ripened form, as soon as it passes into the hands of one who.
by virtue of His divine properties, was fitted to bear the glory. The |
phecy, therefore, is to be regardi d a a gi-neral promise of the connection
OJ llie kingdom with David's person and line, including Christ as belonging

160 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

IV. But we have still to notice another conceivable com-
bination of type with prophecy. It is possible, we said, that
the typical transactions might themselves be still future ; and
might, in a prophetic word, be partly described, partly presup-
posed, as a ground for the delineation of other things still more
distant, in respect to which they were to hold a typical rela-
tion. The difference between this and the last supposition is
quite immaterial, in so far as any principle is involved. It
makes no essential change in the nature of the relation, that
the typical transactions forming the groundwork of the pro-
phetical delineation should have been contemplated as future,
and not as past or present. It is true that the prophet was
God's messenger, in an especial sense, to the men of his own
ace ; and as such usually delivered messages, which were called
forth by what had actually occurred, and took from this its im-
press. But he was not necessarily tied to that. As from the
present he could anticipate the still undeveloped future, so there
was nothing to hinder — if the circumstances of the Church
might require it — that he should also at times realize as present
a nearer future, and from that anticipate another more remote.
In doing so, he would naturally transport himself into the
position of those who were to witness that nearer future, which
would then be contemplated as holding much the same relation
typically to the higher things in prospect, as in the case last
considered ; that is, the matter-of-fact prophecy involved in the
typical transactions viewed as already present, would furnish
to the prophet's eye the form and aspect under which he would
exhibit the corresponding events yet to be expected.

The only addition which the view now suggested makes to
the one generally held is, that we suppose the prophet, while he
spake as from the midst of circumstances future, though not
distant, recognised in these something of a typical nature ; and
on the basis of that as the type, unfolded the greater and more
distant antitype. There is plainly nothing incredible or even
improbable in such a supposition, especially if the nearer future

to that line after the flesh ; but in respect to the element of eternity, the
absolute perpetuity guaranteed in the promise, it not only admitted, but
required the possession of a nature in Christ higher unspeakably than He
could derive from David.

COMBINATION OF TYPE WITH PROPHECY. 161

already lay within the vision of the Church. The circum-
stances, however, giving rise to prophecies of this description
were not likely to be of very frequent occurrence. They could
only be expected in those more peculiar emergencies when it
became needful for the Church's warning or consolation to
Overshoot, as it were, the things more immediately in prospect,
and lix the "ii others more remote in point of time, though

in nature most closely connected with them.

Now, at one remarkable period of her history, the Old
T itament Church was certainly in such circumstances — the
period just preceding and coincident with the Babylonish exile.
From the time that this calamity had become inevitable, the
prophets, as already noticed, had spoken of it as a second
Egypt — a new bondage to the power of the world, from which
the Church required to be delivered by a new manifestation of
redemptive grace. But a second redemption after the manner
of the first would obviously no longer suffice to restore the
heart of faith to assured confidence, or fill it with satisfying
expectations of coming good. The redemption from Egypt,
with all its marvellous accompaniments and happy results, had
yet failed to provide an effectual security against overwhelming
desolation. And if the redemption from Babylon might have
brought, in the fullest sense, a restoration to the land of
< Sanaan, and the re-establishment of the temple service; yet, if
this were all the spirit of prophecy could descry of coining
good, there must still have been room for fear to enter: there
could scarcely fail even to be sad forebodings of new desola-
tions likely to arise and undo again the whole that had been
accomplished. At such a period, therefore, the prophet had a
double part to perform, when charged with the commission to
comfort the people of God. He had, in the first instance, to
declare the fixed purpose of Heaven to visit Babylon for her
sins, and thereby afford a door of escape for the captive chil-
dren of the covenant, that as a people saved anew they might
return to their ancient heritages. But he had to do more than
this. He ha I to take his station, as it were, on the floor of
that nearer redemption, and from thence direct the eye of
hope to another and higher, of which it was but the imperfect
shadow — a redemption which should lay the foundation of the
\ OL. I. L

102 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

Church's wellbeing so broad and deep, that the former troubles
could no longer return, and heights of prosperity and blessing
should be reached entirely unknown in the past. Thus alone
could a ground of consolation be provided for the people of
God, really adequate to the emergencies of that dismal time,
when all that was of God seemed ready to perish, under the
combined force of internal corruption and outward violence.

It was precisely in this way that the prophet Isaiah sought
to comfort the Church of God by inditing the later portion of
his writings (ch. xl.-lxvi.), in which we have the most important
example of the class of prophecies now under consideration.
The central object in the whole of this magnificent chain of
prophecy, is the appearance, work, and kingdom of the Lord
Jesus Christ — His spirit and character, His sufferings and
triumphs, the completeness of His redemption, the safety and
blessedness of His people, the certain overthrow of His enemies,
and the final glory of His kingdom. The manner in which
this prophetic discourse is entered on, might alone satisfy us
that such is in reality its main theme. For the voice which
there meets us, of one crying in the wilderness, is that to which,
according to all the Evangelists, John the Baptist appealed, as
announcing beforehand his office and mission to the Church of
God. And if the forerunner is found at the threshold, who
should chiefly occupy the interior of the building but He whom
John was specially sent to make known to Israel ? The sub-
stance of the message also, as briefly indicated there, entirely
corresponds : for it speaks not, as is often loosely represented,
of the people's return to Jerusalem, but of the Lord's return to
His people; it announces a coming revelation of His glorv,
which all flesh should see ; and proclaims to the cities of Judah
the tidings, Behold your God ! We are not to be understood
as meaning, that the Lord might not in a sense be said to come
to His people, when in their behalf He brought down the pride
of Babylon, and laid open for them a way of return to their
native land. A reference to this more secret and preparatory
revelation of Himself may certainly be understood, both here
and in several kindred representations that follow ; yet not as
their direct and immediate object, but rather as something pre-
supposed, similar in kind, though immensely inferior in degree,

COMBINATION OF TYPE WITH PROPHECY. I 63

to the proper reality. There are passages, indeed, so general in
the truths and principles they enunciate, that they cannot with
propriety be limited to one period of the Church's history any
more than to another. And again, there are others, especially
the portion reaching from ch. xliv. 24 to xlviii. 22, as also ch. li.
Hi., which refer more immediately to the events connected with
the deliverance from Babylon, as things in themselves perfectly
certain, and fitted to awaken confidence in regard to the greater
things that were yet destined to be accomplished, lie who
could speak of Babylon as already prostrate in the dust, though
no shade had yet come over the lustre of her glory — who, at the
very moment she was the scourge and terror of the nations,
could picture to himself the time when she should be seen as a
spoiled and forlorn captive — who could behold the once weeping
exiles of Judea, escaped from her grasp, and sent back with
honour to revive the glories of Jerusalem, while the proud
destroyer was left to sink and moulder into irrecoverable ruin —
lie who could foresee all this as in a manner present, and com-
mit to His Church the prophetic announcement generations
before it had been fulfilled, might well claim from His people
an implicit faith, when giving intimation of a work still to be
done, the greatness of which should surpass all thought, as its
blessings should extend to all lands (ch. xlv. 1 7, 2;.'. xlix. 18-26).
Thus the deliverance accomplished from the yoke of Babylon
formed a fitting prelude and stepping-stone to the main snbj
of the prophecy — the revelation of God in the person and work
of Hit Son. The certainty of the one — a certainty soon to be
ilized — was a pledge of the ultimate certainty of the other;
and the character also of the former, as a singular and unex-
pected manifestation of the Lord's power to deliver His people
and lay their enemies in the dust, was a prciiguration of what
was to be accomplished once for all in the salvation to be wrought
out by Jesus Christ.1

There are few portions of Old Testament prophecy which
altogether resemble the one we have been considering. Perhaps
that which approaches nearest to it in the mode of combining
type with prophecy, is the thirty-fourth chapter of Isaiah, which

1 Compare the excellent outline of the subjects discoursed of in this part
of Isaiah's writings in Vitringa, Com. on ch. xii.

1G4 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

is not a direct and simple delineation of the judgments that
were destined to alight upon Idumea, but rather an ideal repre-
sentation of the judgments preparing to alight on the enemies
generally of God's people, founded upon the approaching
desolations of Edom, which it contemplates as the type of the
destruction that awaits all the adversaries. Still more closely
analogous, however, is our Lord's prophecy regarding the de-
struction of Jerusalem and His own final advent to judge the
world, in the twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel ; in
which, undoubtedly, the nearer future is regarded as the type
of the higher and more remote. It would almost seem as if
the two events were to a certain extent thrown together in the
prophetic delineation ; for the efforts that have been made to
separate the portions strictly applicable to each, have never
wholly succeeded ; and more, perhaps, than any other part of
prophetic Scripture is there the appearance here of something
like a double sense. What reasons may have existed for this we
can still but imperfectly apprehend. One principal reason, we
may certainly conceive, was, that it did not accord with our
Lord's design, to have exhibited very precise and definite prog-
nostics of His second coming. This would have been fraught
with danger to His disciples. The exact period behoved to be
shrouded almost to the very last in mystery, and it seemed to
divine wisdom the fittest course to order the circumstances
connected with the final act of judgment on the typical people
and territory, so as to serve, at the same time, for signs and
tokens of the last great act of judgment on the world at large.
As the acts themselves corresponded, so there should also be a
correspondence in the manner of their accomplishment ; and to
contemplate the one as imaged in the other, without being able
in all respects to draw the line very accurately between them,
was the whole that could safely be permitted to believers.

The result, then, of the preceding investigation is, that there
is in Scripture a fourfold combination of type with prophecy.
In the first of these the prophetic import lies in the type, and in
the word only as descriptive of the type. In the others there
was not a double sense, but a double prophecy — a typical pro-
phecy in action, coupled with a verbal prophecy in word ; not
uniformly combined, however, but variously modified : in one

ALLEGED DOUBLE SENSE. 1 C5

cla^s a distinct typical action, having associated with it an express
prophetical announcement ; in another, the typical lying only as
the background on which the spirit of propheey raised the pre-
diction of a corresponding but much grander future; and in still
another, the typical belonging to a nearer future, which was
realized as present, and taken as the occasion and groundwork
of a prophecy respecting a future, at once greater and more
remote. Jt is in this last department alone that there is any-
thing like a mixing up of two subjects together, and a conse-
quent difficulty in determining when precisely the language
refers to the nearer, and when to the more remote transactions.
Even then, however, only in rare cases ; and with this slight
exception, there is nothing that carries the appearance of con-
fusion or ambiguity. Each part holds its appropriate place,
and the connection subsisting between them, in its various
shapes and forms, is very much what might have been expected
in a system so complex and many-sided as that to which they
belonged.

We proceed nowr to offer some remarks on the views gene-
rally held on the subject of the prophecies which have passed
under our consideration. They fall into two opposite sections.
Overlooking the real connection in such cases between type
and prophecyj and often misapprehending the proper import
of the language, the opinion contended for, on the one side,
has been, that the predictions contain a double sense — the one
primary and the other secondary, or the one literal and the other
mystical ; while, on the contrary side, it has been maintained
that the predictions have but one meaning, and when applied in
New Testament Scripture, in a way not accordant with that
meaning, it is held to be a simple accommodation of the words.
A brief examination of the two opposing views will be sufficient
for our purpose.

1. And, first, in regard to the view which advocates the
theory of the double sense. Here it has been laid down as a
settled canon of interpretation, that ' the same prophecies fre-
quently refer to different events, the one near and the other
remote — the one temporal, the other spiritual, and perhaps
eternal ; that the expressions are partly applicable to one and

loG THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

partly to another ; and that what has not been fulfilled in the
first, we must apply to the second.' If so, the conclusion seems
inevitable, that there must be a painful degree of uncertainty
and confusion resting on such portions of prophetic Scripture.
And the ambiguity thus necessarily pervading them, must, one
would think, have rendered them of comparatively little value,
whether originally as a ground of hope to the Old Testament
Church, or now as an evidence of faith to the New.

Great ingenuity was certainly shown by Warburton in
labouring to establish the grounds of this double sense, without
materially impairing in any respect the validity of the prophecy.
The view advocated by him, however, lies open to two serious
objections, which have been powerfully urged against it, espe-
cially by Bishop Marsh, and which have demonstrated its arbi-
trariness. 1. In the first place, while it proceeds upon the sup-
position that the double sense of prophecy is quite analogous
to the double sense of allegory, there is in reality an essential
difference between them. 'When we interpret a prophecy, to
which a double meaning is ascribed, the one relating to the
Jewish, the other to the Christian dispensation, we are in either
case concerned with an interpretation of ivords. For the same
words which, according to one interpretation, are applied to
one event, are, according to another interpretation, applied to
another event. But in the interpretation of an allegory, we are
concerned only in ihejirst instance with an interpretation of
words ; the second sense, which is usually called the allegorical,
being an interpretation of things. The interpretation of the
words gives nothing more than the plain and simple narratives
themselves (the allegory generally assuming the form of a
narrative) ; whereas the moral of the allegory is learnt by an
application of the things signified by those words to other
things which resemble them, and which the former were in-
tended to susreest. There is a fundamental difference, there-
fore, between the interpretation of an allegory, and the inter-
pretation of a prophecy with a double sense.'1 2. The view of
Warburton is, besides, liable to the objection that it not only
affixes a necessary darkness and obscurity to the prophecies
having the double sense, but also precludes the existence of any

1 Marsh's Lectures, p. 44.4.

ALLEGED DOUBLE SENSE. 167

other prophecies more plain, direct, and explicit — until at lea-t
the dispensation under which the prophecies were given, and
for which the double sense specially adapted them, was ap-
proaching its termination. He contends that the veiled mean-
ing of the prophecies was necessary, in order at once to awaken
some general expectations among the Jews of better things to
come, and, at the same time, to prevent these from being so
distinctly understood as to weaken their regard to existing
institutions. It is fatal to this view of the matter, that in
reality many of the most direct and perspicacious prophecies
concerning the Messiah were contemporaneous with those which
are alleged to possess the double meaning and the veiled re-
ference to the Messiah. If, therefore, the divine method were
such as to admit only of the one class, it must have been
defeated by the other. And it must also have been not so
properly a ground of blame as a matter of necessity, arising
from the very circumstances of their position, that the Jews
' could not stedfastly look to the end of that which was to be
abolished.' 1 The reverse, however, was actually the case ; for
the more clearly they perceived the meaning of the prophecies,
and the end of their symbolical institutions, the more heartily
did they enter into the design of God, and the more nearly
attain the condition which it became them to occupy.

These objections, however, apply chiefly to that vindication
of the double' sense which came from the hand of Warburton,
and was interwoven with his peculiar theory. The opinion has
since been advocated in a manner that guards it against both
objections, and is put, perhaps, in the most approved form by
Davidson. 'What,' he asks, Ms the double sense? Not the
convenient latitude of two unconnected senses, wide of each
other, and giving room to a fallacious ambiguity, but the com-
bination of two related, analogous, and harmonizing, though
disparate, subjects, each char and definite in it-elf; implying
a twofold truth in the prescience, and creating an aggravated
difficulty, and thereby an accumulated proof, in the completion.

For a ease in point: to justify the predictions concerning the

kingdom of David in their double force, it must be shown of
them that they hold in each of their relations, ami in each were

1 2 Cor. iii. 13.

108 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

fulfilled. So that the double sense of prophecy, in its true
idea, is a check upon the pretences of a vague and unappro-
priated prediction, rather than a door to admit them. But this
is not all. For if the prediction distribute its sense into two
remote branches or systems of the divine economy ; if it show
not only what is to take place in distant times, but describe also
different modes of God's appointment, though holding a certain
and intelligent resemblance to each other, — such prediction be-
comes not only more convincing in the argument, but more
instructive in the doctrine, because it expresses the correspond-
ence of God's dispensations in their points of agreement, as well
as His foreknowledge.' *

This representation so far coincides with the one given in
the preceding pages, that it virtually recognises a combination
of type with prophecy ; but differs in that it supposes both to
have been included in the prediction, the one constituting the
primary, the other the secondary, sense of its terms. And,
undoubtedly, according to this scheme as well as our own, the
correspondence between God's dispensations might be sufficiently
exhibited, both in regard to doctrine and general harmony of
arrangement. But when it is contended further, that prophecy
with such a double sense, instead of rendering the evidence it
furnishes of divine foresight more vague and unsatisfactory,
only supplies an accumulated proof of it by creating an aggra-
vated difficulty in the fulfilment, it seems to be forgotten that
the terms of the prediction, to admit of such a duplicate fulfil-
ment, must have been made so much more general and vao-ue.
But it is the precision and definiteness of the terms in a pre-
diction which, when compared with the facts in providence
that verify them, chiefly produce in our minds a conviction of
divine foresight and direction. And in so far as prophecies
might have been constructed to comprehend two series of dis-
parate events, holding in each of the relations, and in each
fulfilled, it could only be by dispensing with the more exact
criteria, which we cannot help regarding in such cases as the
most conclusive evidence of prophetic inspiration.

But as it was by no means the sole object of prophecy to
provide this evidence, so predictions without such exact criteria
1 Davidson On Prophecy, p. 196.

ALLEI ; KD DOUBLE SENSE. 1G9

arc by no means wanting in the word of God. There are pro-
pheciea which were not so much designed to foretell definite

nts, as to unfold great prospects and results, in respect to
the manifestation <>f (Jod's purposes of grace and truth toward
men. Such prophecies were of necessity general and compre-
hensive in their terms, and admitted of manifold fulfilments.
It is of them that we would understand the singularly pregnant
and beautiful remark of Lord Bacon in the Secoiuf Book oj (he
Advancement of Learning, that 'Divine prophecies, being ol
the nature of their Author, with whom a thousand years are
as but one day, are therefore not fulfilled punctually at once,
but have springing and germinant accomplishment ; though the
height or fulness of them may refer to some one a: The
very first prophecy ever uttered to fallen man, — the promise
given of a seed through the woman which should bruise the
head of the serpent, — and that afterwards given to Abraham
of a seed of blessing, may be fitly specified as illustrations of
the principle ; since in either case — though by virtue, not of a
double sense, but of a wide and comprehensive import — a ful-
filment from the first was constantly proceeding, while ' the
height and fulness' of the predicted good could only be reached
in the redemption of Christ and the glories of His kingdom.

To return, however, to the matter at issue, we have yet to
press our main objection to the theory of the double sense of
prophecy; we dispute the fact on which it is founded, that
there really are prophecies (with the partial exceptions already
noticed) predictive of similar though disparate series of events,
strictly applicable to each, and in each finding their fulfilment.
This necessarily forms the main position of the advocates of the
double sense ; and when brought to particulars, they constantly
fail to establish it. The terms of the several predictions are
sure to be put to the torture, in order to get one of the two
senses extracted from them. And the violent interpretations
resorted to for the purpose of effecting this, afford one of the
most striking proofs of the blinding influence which a theoreti-
cal bias may exert over the mind. Such Psalms, for example,
as the second and forty-fifth, which are so distinctly charac-
teristic of the Messiah, that some learned commentators have
abandoned their early predilections to interpret them wholly of

170 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

Him, are yet ascribed by the advocates of the double sense as
well to David as to Christ. Nay, by a singular inversion of
the usual meaning of words, they call the former the literal,
and the latter their figurative or secondary sense, — although
this last is the only one the words can strictly bear.

There is no greater success in most other cases ; let us take
but one example : ' Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell ;
neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.
Thou wilt make known to me the path of life : in Thy presence
is fulness of joy ; and at Thy right hand are pleasures for ever-
more.' These words in the sixteenth Psalm were applied by
the Apostle Peter to Christ, as finding in the events of His
history their only proper fulfilment. David, he contends, could
not have been speaking directly of himself, since he had seen
corruption ; and instead of regaining the path of life, and ascend-
ing into the presence of God (namely, in glorified humanity),
had suffered, as all knew, the common lot of nature. And so,
the apostle infers, the words should be understood more imme-
diately of Christ, in whose history alone they could properly
be said to be accomplished. Warburton, however, inverts this
order. Of the deliverance from hell, the freedom from corrup-
tion, and the return to the paths of life, he says, 'Though it
literally signifies security from the curse of the law upon trans-
gressors, viz. immature death, yet it may very reasonably be
understood in a spiritual sense of the resurrection of Christ
from the dead ; in which case the words or terms translated
soul and hell are left in the meaning they bear in the Hebrew
tongue of body and grave ! ' Pie does not, of course, deny that
Peter claimed the passage as a prophecy of Christ's resurrec-
tion ; but maintains that he does so, ( no otherwise than by
giving it a secondary or spiritual sense.' In such a style of
interpretation, one cannot but feel as if the terms primary and
secondary, literal and spiritual, had been made to exchange
places ; since the plain import of the words seems to carry us
directly to Christ, while it requires a certain strain to be put
upon them before they can properly apply to the case of
David.

Such, indeed, is what usually happens with the instances
selected by the advocates of this theory. The double sense they

RATIONALISTIC SINGLE SENSE. 171

contend for does not strictly hold in both of the relations ; an.l
very commonly what is contended for as the immediate and
primary, is the sense that is least accordant with the grammati-
cal import of the words. We therefore reject it as a satisfactory
explanation of any considerable class of prophecies, and on three
several grounds : First, because it so ravels and complicates the
meaning of the prophecies to which it is applied, as to involve
us in painful doubt and uncertainty regarding their proper
application. Secondly, should this be avoided, it can only arise
from the prophecies being of so general ami comprehensive a
nature, as to be incapable of a very close and specific fulfilment.
And, finally, when applied to particular examples, the theory
practically gives way, as the terms employed in all the more im-
portant predictions are too definite and precise to admit of more
than one proper fulfilment.

•2. We turn now, in the last place, to the mode of propheti-
cal interpretation which has commonly prevailed with those who
have ranged themselves in opposition to the theory of the double
sense. The chief defect in this class of interpreters consists in
their having failed to take sufficiently into account the connec-
tion subsisting between the Old and the New Testament dis-
pensations. They have hence generally given only a partial view
of the relations involved in particular prophecies, and not unfre-
quently have confined the application of these to circumstances
which only supplied the occasion of their delivery, and the form
of their delineations. The single sense contended for has thus
too often differed materially from the real sense. And many
portions of the Psalms and other prophetical Scriptures, which
in New Testament Scripture itself are applied to Gospel times,
have been stript of their evangelical import, on the ground that
the writer of the prophecy must have had in view some events
immediately affecting himself or his country, and that no further

. except by way of accommodation, can legitimately be made
of the words he uttered.

Such, for example, has been the way that the remarkable
prophecy in Isaiah, respecting the son to be born of a virgin,1
has often been treated. The words of the prophecy are,
1 Behold the virgin conceiveth and beareth a son, and she shall

1 Ch. vii. H-1G.

172 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

call his name Immannel. Butter [ratlier milk] and honey shall
he eat, when he shall know (or, that he may know) to refuse what
is evil, and choose what is good ; for before this child shall know
to refuse the evil, and to choose the good, the land shall become
desolate, by whose two kings thou art distressed.' We have what
may justly be called two inspired commentaries on this prediction
— one in the Old, and another in the New Testament. The
prophet Micah, the contemporary of Isaiah, evidently referring
to the words before us, says immediately after announcing the
birth of the future Ruler of Israel at Bethlehem, ' Therefore
will he give them up, until the time that she who shall bear
hath brought forth' (v. 3). The peculiar expression, ' she who
shall bear,' points to the already designated mother of the Divine
King, but only in this prediction of Isaiah designated as the
virgin ; so that, in the language of Rosenmiiller, ' both pre-
dictions throw lisrht on each other. Micah discloses the divine
origin of the Person predicted ; Isaiah the wonderful manner
of His birth.' The other allusion in inspired Scripture is by
St. Matthew, when, relating the miraculous circumstances of
Christ's birth, he adds, ' Now all this was done, that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold a virgin shall be with child,' etc. And the prophecy,
as Bishop Lowth has well stated, ' is introduced in so solemn
a manner ; the sign is so marked, as a sign selected and given
by God Himself, after Ahaz had rejected the offer of any
sign of his own choosing out of the whole compass of nature ;
the terms of the prophecy are so peculiar, and the name of the
child so expressive, containing in them much more than the
circumstances of the birth of a common child required, or even
admitted, — that we may easily suppose, that in minds prepared
by the general expectation of a great deliverer to spring from
the house of David, they raised hopes far beyond what the
present occasion suggested ; especially when it was found that in
the subsequent prophecy, delivered immediately afterward, this
child, called Immanuel, is treated as the Lord and Prince of
Judah.1 Who could this be, other than the heir of the throne
of David ? under which character a great and even a divine
person had been promised.'

1 Ch. viii. 8-10.

RATIONALISTIC SINGLE SENSE. 173

These tiling leave little doubt as to the real bearing of the
prophecy. But as originally delivered, it is connected with two
peculiarities : the one, that it is given as a sign to the house of
David, then represented by the wicked Ahaz, and trembling for
fear on account of the combined hostility of Syria and Israel ;
the other, that it is succeeded by a word to the prophet con-
cerning a son to be born to him by the prophetess, which should
not be able to cry, My father, before the king of Assyria had
spoiled both the kingdoms of Syria and Israel.1 And it has
been thought, from these peculiarities, that it was really this son
of the prophet that was meant by the Immanuel, as this alone
could be a proper sign to Ahaz of the deliverance that was to
be so speedily granted to him from the object of his dread. So
Grotius, who holds that St. Matthew only applied it mystically
to Christ, and a whole host of interpreters since, of whom many
can think of no better defence for the Evangelist than that, as
the words of the prophet were more elevated and full than the
immediate occasion demanded, they might be said to be fulfilled
in what more nearly accorded with them. Apologies of this
kind will not avail much in the present day, and in reality they
are not needed. It is quite arbitrary to suppose that the child
to be born of the prophetess (an ideal child, we should imagine]
conceived and born in prophetic vision — since otherwise it would
seem to have been born in fornication) is to be identified with
the virgin's son ; the rather so, as an entirely different name
is given to it (Maher-shalal-hash-baz), — an ideal but descriptive
name, and pointing simply to the spoliation that was to be
effected on the hostile kingdoms. Immanuel has another, a
higher import, and bespeaks what the Lord should be to the
covenant people, not what He should do to the enemies. Nor
is the other circumstance, of the word being uttered as a sign
to the house of David, any reason for turning it from its natural
sense and application! A sign in the ordinary sense had been
refused, ander a pretence of pious trust in God, but really from
a feeling of distrust and improper reliance on an arm of flesh.
And now the Lord gives a sign in a peculiar sense, — much as
Jesus met the craving of an adulterous generation for a sign
from heaven, by giving the sign of the prophet Jonas — the

1 Cli. nil 1-4.

174 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

reverse of what they either wished or expected, — a sign not
from heaven, but from the lower parts of the earth. So here,
by announcing the birth of Immanuel, the prophet gave a sign
suited to the time of backsliding and apostasy in which he lived.
For it told the house of David that, wearying God as they were
doing by their sins, He would vindicate His cause in a way they
little expected or desired ; that He would secure the establish-
ment of His covenant with the house of David, by raising up a
child in whom the divine should actually commingle with the
human ; but that this child should be the offspring of some un-
known virgin, not of Ahaz or of any ordinary occupant of the
throne; and that, meanwhile, everything should go to desolation
and ruin — first, indeed, in the allied kingdoms of Israel and
Syria (ver. 1G), but afterwards also in the kingdom of Judah
(vers. 17-25) ; so that the destined possessor of the throne,
when he came, should find all in a prostrate condition, and grow
up like one in an. impoverished and stricken country, fed with
the simple fare of a cottage shepherd (comp. ver. 16 with 22).
Thus understood, the whole is entirely natural and consistent ;
and the single sense of the prophecy proves to be identical, as
well with the native force of the words, as with the interpreta-
tions of inspired men.1

We have selected this as one of the most common and
plausible specimens of the false style of interpretation to which
we have referred. It is needless to adduce more, as the ex-
planations given in the earlier part of the chapter have already
met many of them by anticipation ; and the supplementary
treatise in the Appendix will supply what further may be
needed. If but honestly and earnestly dealt with, the Scrip-
tures have no reason to fear, in this or in other departments, the
closest investigation : the more there is of rigid inquiry, dis-
placing superficial considerations, the more will their inner truth
and harmony appear.

1 Of later Commentaries, published since the above was written, both
Drechsler and Delitzsch take the same view of the prophecy.

CHAPTER SIXTH.

THE INTERPRETATION <>F PARTICULAR TYPES — SPECIFIC
PRINCIJ LES AM) DIRECTIONS.

It was one of the objections urged against the typological views
of our elder divines, that their system admitted of no fixed or
definite rules being laid down for guiding us to the knowledge
and interpretation of particular types. Everything was left to
the discretion or caprice of the individual who undertook to in-
vestigate them. The few directions that were sometimes given
upon the subject were too vague and general to be of any ma-
terial service. That the type must have borne, in its original
ign and institution, a pre-ordained reference to the Gospel
antitype — that there is often more in the type than in the anti-
type, and more in the antitype than the type — that there must
be a natural and appropriate application of the one to the other
— that the wicked as such, and acts of sin as such, must be
excluded from the category of types — that one thing is some-
times the type of different and even contrary things, though in
different respects — and that there is sometimes an intcrchan
between the type and the antitype of the names respectively
belonging to each : — These rules of interpretation, which are
the whole that Glassius and other hermeneutical writers furnish
for our direction, could not go far, either to restrain the licence
of conjecture, or to mark out the particular course of thought
and inquiry that should be pursued. They can scai'ccly be said
to touch the main difficulties of the subject, and throw no light
on its more distinguishing peculiarities. Nor indeed could any
other result have been expected. The rules could not be prec
or definite, when the system on which they were founded was
altogether loose and indeterminate. And only with the laying
of a more solid and stable foundation could directions for the
practical treatment of the subject come to possess any measure
of satisfaction or explicitness.

175

176 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

Even on the supposition that some progress has now been
made in laying such a foundation, we cannot hold out the pro-
spect that no room shall be left for dubiety, and that all may
be reduced to a kind of dogmatical precision and certainty. It
would be unreasonable to expect this, considering both the
peculiar character and the manifold variety of the field em-
braced by the Typology of Scripture. That there may still be
particular cases in which it will be questionable whether any-
thing properly typical belonged to them, and others in which a
diversity of view may be allowable in explaining what is typical,
seems to us by no means improbable. And in the specific rules
or principles of interpretation that follow, we do not aim at dis-
pelling every possible doubt and ambiguity connected with the
subject, but only at fixing its more prominent and characteristic
outlines. We believe that, with ordinary care and discretion,
they will be sufficient to guard against material error.

I. The first principle we lay down has respect merely to the
amount of what is typical in Old Testament Scripture ; it is,
that nothing is to be regarded as typical of the good things under
the Gospel which was itself of a forbidden and sinful nature.
Something approximating to this has been mentioned among
the too general and obvious directions which philological writers
have been accustomed to give upon the subject. It is indeed
so much of that description, that though in itself a principle
most necessary to be observed and acted on, yet we should have
refrained from any express announcement or formal proof of it
here, were it not still frequently set at naught, alike in theo-
logical discussions and in popular discourses.

The ground of the principle, in the form here given to it,
lies in the connection which the type has with the antitype, and
consequently with God. The antitype standing in the things
which belong to God's everlasting kingdom, is necessarily of
God ; and so, by a like necessity, the type which was intended
to foreshadow and prepare for it, must have been equally of
Him. Whether a symbol in religion or a fact in providence, it
must have borne upon it the divine sanction and approval ;
otherwise there could have been no proper connection between
the ultimate reality and its preparatory exhibitions. So far as

SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES AND DIRECTIONS. 177

the institutions of religion are concerned, this is readily ad-
mitted ; and no one would think of contending for the idola-
trous rites of worship which were sometimes introduced into
the services of the sanctuary, being ranked among the shadows

of the 1 'etter things to come.

But there is not the same readiness to perceive the incon-
gruity of admitting to the rank of types, actions which were as
far from being accordant with the mind of God, as the impuri-

of an idolatrous worship. Such actions might, no doubt,
differ in one respect from the forbidden services of religion ;
they might in someway be overruled by God for the accom-
plishment of His own purposes, and therein- be brought into a
certain connection with Himself. This was never more strik-
ingly done than in respect to the things which befell Jesus —
the great antitype — winch were carried into effect by the opera-
tion of the fiercest malice and wickedness, and yet were the
very things which the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God had appointed before to be done. It is one thing, how-
•r, for human agents and their actions being controlled and
directed by God, so as, amid all their impetuosity and uproar,
to be constrained to work out His righteous purposes ; but an-
other thing for them to stand in such close relationship to Him,
that they become express and authoritative revelations of His
will. This last is the light in which they must be contem-
plated, if a typical character is ascribed to them. For the time
during which typical things lasted, they stood as temporary
representations under God's own hand of what He was going
permanently to establish under the (iospel. And therefore, as
amid those higher transactions, where the antitype comes into
play, we exclude whatever was the offspring <>f human ignorance
or sinfulness : so in the earlier and inferior transactions, which
wen.- hii>lcal of what was to come, we must, in like manner,
exclude the workings of all earthly and sinful affections. The
typical and the antitypical alike must bear on them the image
and superscription of ( iod.

Violations of this obvious principle are much less frequently

met with now than they were in the theological writings ol

la^t century. Still, however, instances are occasionally forcing
themselves on one's notice. And in popular discourses, n
VOl*. I. M

178 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

perhaps occurs more frequently than that connected with
Jacob's melancholy dissimulation and cunning policy for ob-
taining the blessing. His receiving the blessing, we are some-
times told, in the garments of Esau, which his mother arrayed
him with, ' is to be viewed as a faint shadow of our receiving
the blessing from God in the garments of Jesus Christ, which
all the children of the promise wear. It was not the feigned
venison, but the borrowed garments, that procured the bless-
ing. Even so, we are not blessed by God for our good works,
however pleasing to Him, but for the righteousness of our
Redeemer.' What a confounding of things that differ ! The
garments of the l profane ' Esau made to image the spotless
righteousness of Jesus ! And the fraudulent use of the one bv
Jacob, viewed as representing the believer's simple and confid-
ing trust in the other ! Between things so essentially different
there can manifestly be nothing but superficial resemblances,
which necessarily vanish the moment the real facts of the case
rise into view. It was not Jacob's imposing upon his father's
infirmities, either with false venison or with borrowed garments,
which in reality procured for him the blessing. The whole that
can be said of these is, that in the actual circumstances of the
case they had a certain influence, of an instrumental kind, in
leading Isaac to pronounce it. But what had been thus spoken
on false grounds and under mistaken apprehensions, might
surely have been recalled when the truth came to be known.
The prophet Nathan, at a later age, found no difficulty in
revoking the word he had too hastily spoken to David respect-
ing the building of the temple, though it had been elicited by
something very different from falsehood — by a novel and un-
expected display of real goodness.1 And in the case now under
consideration, if there had been nothing more in the matter
than the mock venison and the hairy garments of Esau, there
can be little doubt that the blessing that had been pronounced
would have been instantly withdrawn, and the curse which
Jacob dreaded made to take its place. In truth, Isaac erred
in what he purposed to do, not less than Jacob in beguiling
him to do what he had not purposed. He was going to utter in
God's name a prophetic word, which, if it had taken effect as

1 2 Sam. vii. 3.

SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES AND DIRECTIONS. 179

ho intended, would have contravened the oracle originally given
to Rebekah concerning the two children, even prior to their
birth — that the elder should serve the younger. And there
were not wanting indications in the spirit and behaviour of
the sons, after they had sprang to manhood, which might have
led a mind of spiritual discernment to descry in Jacob, rather
than Esau, the heir of blessing. But living as Isaac had done
for the most part of his life in a kind of luxurious ease, in
his declining years especially yielding too much to the fleshly
indulgences assiduously ministered to by the hand of Esau,
the eye of his mind, like that of his body, grew dim, and he
lost the correct perception of the truth. But when he saw
how the providence of God had led him to bestow the blessing
otherwise than he himself had designed, the truth rushed at
once upon his soul. 'He trembled exceedingly' — not simply,
nor perhaps chiefly, because of the deceit that had been prac-
tised upon his blindness, but because of the worse spiritual
blindness which had led him to err so grievously from the
revealed purpose of God. And hence, even after the discovery
of Jacob's fraudulent behaviour, he declared with the strongest
emphasis, ' Yea, and he shall be blessed.'

Thus, when the real circumstances of the case are con-
sidered, there appears no ground whatever for connecting the
improper conduct of Jacob with the mode of a sinner's justifi-
cation. The resemblances that may be found between them
are quite superficial or arbitrary. And such always are the
resemblances which appear between the workings of evil in
man, and the good that is of God. The two belong to essen-
tially different spheres, and a real analogy or a divinely or-
dained connection cannot possibly unite them together. The
principle, however, may be carried a step further. As the
operations of sin cannot prefigure the actings of righteousness,
so the direct results and consequences of sin cannot justly be
regarded as typical representations of the exercises of grace and
holiness. When, therefore (to refer again to the history of
Jacob), the things that befell him in God's providence, on
account of his unbrotherly and deceitful conduct, arc repre-
sented as typical foreshadowings of Christ's work of humilia-
tion— Jacob's withdrawal from his fathers house prefiguring

180 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

Christ's leaving the region of glory and appearing as a stranger
on the earth — Jacob's sleeping on the naked ground with
nothing but a stone for his pillow, Christ's descent into the
lowest depths of poverty and shame, that He might afterwards
be exalted to the head-stone of the corner, and so forth ; x — in
such representations there is manifestly a stringing together of
events which have no fundamental agreement, and possess no
mutual relations. In the one case Jacob was merely suffering
the just reward of his misdeeds ; while the Redeemer, in the
other and alleged parallel transactions, was voluntarily giving
the highest display of the holy love that animated His bosom
for the good of men. And whatever there might be at certain
points of an outward and formal resemblance between them, it
is in- the nature of things impossible that there could be a real
harmony and an ordained connection.

It is to be noted, however, that we apply the principle now
under consideration to the extent merely of denying a typical
connection between what in former times appeared of evil on
the part of man, and the good subsequently introduced by God.
And we do so on the ground that such things only as He sanc-
tioned and approved in the past, could foreshadow the higher
and better things which were to be sanctioned and approved by
Him in the future. But as all the manifestations of truth have
their corresponding and antagonistic manifestations of error, it
is perfectly warrantable and scriptural to regard the form of
evil which from time to time confronted the type, as itself the
type of something similar, which should afterwards arise as a
counter-form of evil to the antitype. Antichrist, therefore,
may be said to have had his types as well as Christ. Hagar
was the type of a carnal Church, that should be in bondage to
the elements of the world, and of a spirit at enmity with God, as
Sarah was of a spiritual Church, that should possess the freedom
and enjoy the privileges of God's true children. Egypt, Edom,
Assyria, Babylon without, and Saul, Ahithophel, Absalom, and
others within the circle of the Old Covenant, have each their
counterpart in the things belonging to the history of Christ and
His Church of the New Testament. In strictness of speech, it
is the other class of relations alone which carry with them the
1 Kaane's Christus in Alien Testament, Th. ii. p. 133, etc.

SPECIFIC PEINCIPLES AND DIRECTIONS. 181

impress and ordination of God ; but as God's acts and operations
in His Church never fail to call into existence the world's enmity
and opposition, so the forms which this assumed in earlier times
might well he regarded as prophetic of those which were after-
wards to appear. And if BO with the evil itself, still more with
the visitations of severity sent to chastise the evil : for these
come directly from God. The judgments, therefore, lie inflicted
on iniquity in the past, typified like judgments on all similar
aspects Of iniquity in the future. And the period when the
Lr"od shall reach its full development and final triumph, shall
also be that in which the work of judgment shall pour its floods
of perpetual desolation upon the evil.

II. "We pass on to another, which must still also be a some-
what negative principle of interpretation, viz. that in determin-
ing the existence and import of particular types, we n list be
Lruided, not so much by any knowledge possessed, or supposed to
!«• possessed, by the ancient worshippers concerning their pros\
tive fulfilment, as from the light furnished by their realization in
the great facts and revelations of the Gospel.

Whether we look to the symbolical or to the historical types,
neither their own nature, nor God's design in appointing them,
could warrant us in drawing very definite and conclusive infer-
ence warding the insight possessed by the Old Testament
worshippers into their prospective or Gospel import. The one
formed part of an existing religion, and the other of a course of
providential dealings; and in that more immediate respect there
were certain truths they embodied, and certain lessons they
taught, for those who had directly to do with them. Their fit-
ness for unfolding such truths and lessons formed, as we have
seen, the groundwork of their typical connection with Gospel
times. But though they must have been understood in that
primary aspect by all sincere and intelligent worshippers, ti,
did not necessarily perceive their further reference to tin- thil
of Christ's kingdom. Nor does the reality or the precise import
of their typical character depend upon the correctness or the
extent of the knowledge held respecting it by the members of
the Old Covenant For the connection implied in their pos-
sessing such B character between the preparatory and the final

182 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

dispensations was not of the Church's forming, but of God's ;
and a very considerable part of the design which He intended
these to serve with ancient believers, may have been accom-
plished, though they knew little, and perhaps in some cases
nothing, of the germs that lay concealed in them of better things
to come. These germs were concealed in all typical events and
institutions considered simply by themselves — since the events
and institutions had a significance and use for the time then
present, apart from what might be evolved in the future pur-
poses of God. Now, we are expressly told, even in regard to
direct prophecies of Gospel times, that not only the persons to
whom they were originally delivered, but the very individuals
through whom they were communicated, did not always or
necessarily understand their precise meaning. Sometimes, at
least, they had to assume the position of inquirers, in order to
get the more exact and definite information which they desired ; x
and it would seem, from the case of Daniel, that even then
they did not always obtain it. The prophets were not properly
the authors of their own predictions, but spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost. Their knowledge, therefore, of
the real meaning of the prophecies they uttered, was an entirely
separate thing from the prophecies themselves ; and if we knew
what it was, it would still by no means conclusively fix their
full import. Such being the case in regard even to the persons
who uttered the spoken and direct prophecies of the Old Testa-
ment, how preposterous would it be to make the insight obtained
by believers generally into the indirect and veiled prophecies
(as the types may be called), the ground and standard of the
Gospel truth they embodied ! In each case alike it is the mind
of God, not the discernment or faith of the ancient believer,
that we have properly to do with.

Obvious as this may appear to some, it has been very com-
monly overlooked ; and typical explanations have, in conse-
quence, too often taken the reverse direction of what they
should have done. Writers in this department are constantly
telling us how in former times the eye of faith looked through
the present to the future, and assigning that as the reason
why our present should be contemplated in the remote past.

i Dan. xii. 8 ; 1 Pet. i. 12.

SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES AND DIRECTIONS. 183

Thus, in a once popular work, Adam is represented as having
' believed the promise concerning Christ, in whose commemora-
tion he offered continual sacrifice; and in the assurance thereof
lie named his wife Eve, that is to say, life, and he called his
son Seth, settled, or persuaded in Christ.'1 Another exalts in
like manner the faith of Zipporah, and regards her, when she
said to Moses, 'A bloody husband thou art, because of the
circumcision,' as announcing, ' through one of her children, the
Jehovah as the future Redeemer and bridegroom.'2 Another
presents Moses to our view as wondering at the great sight of
the burning bush, ' because the great mystery of the incarnation
and sufferings of Christ was there represented ; a great sight
he might well call it, when there was represented God manifest
in the flesh, suffering a dreadful death, and rising from the
dead.'3 And Owen, speaking of the Old Testament believers
generally, says, ' Their faith in God was not confined to the
outward things they enjoyed, but on Christ in them, and repre-
sented by them. They believed that they were only resem-
blances of Him and His mediation, which, when they lost the
faith of, they lost all acceptance with God in their worship.'4
Writers of a different class, and of later date, have followed
substantially in the same track. Warburton maintains with
characteristic dogmatism, that the transaction with Abraham,
in offering up Isaac, was a typical action, in which the patriarch
had scenically represented to his view the sufferings, death,
and resurrection of Christ; and that on any other supposition
there can be no right understanding of the matter/' Dean
Graves expresses his concurrence in this interpretation, as does
also Mr. Faher, who says that 'Abraham must have clearly

1 Fisher's Marrow oj Modi rn Divinity, pt. i. ch. ii.

2 Kanne's Christtu in Alt. Test. i. p. 100.

:; II! 'fin/ 1 if lU'/i irtjitioii. By Jonathan Edwards. Period i. p. 4.

4 Owen on Bob. viii. 5. In another part of his writings, however, we
fnnl him Baying, 'Although those (Old Testament) things are oow full of
lighl and instruction to us, evidently expressing the principal works of
Chr nation, yet they were not so unto them. The meanesl believer

may now find out more of the work of Christ in the types of the OM I
tament, than any prophet or wise man could have done of old.1 — Uu tht
Person <>f < Turist, eh. viii.

6 Legation of Motes, b. vi. § 5.

184 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

understood the nature of that awful transaction by which the
day of Christ was to be characterized, and could not have been
ignorant of the benefits about to be procured by it.' l And, to
mention no more, Chevallier intimates a doubt concerning the
typical character of the brazen serpent, because ' it is not
plainly declared, either in the Old or the New Testament, to
have been ordained by God purposely to represent to the
Israelites the future mysteries of the Gospel revelation.'2

These quotations sufficiently show how current the opinion
has been, and still is, that the persons who lived amid the types
must have perfectly understood their typical character, and
that by their knowledge in this respect we are bound in great
measure, if not entirely, to regulate ours. It is, however, a
very difficult question, and one (as we have already had occa-
sion to state) on which we should seldom venture to give more
than an approximate deliverance, how far the realities typified
even by the more important symbols and transactions of ancient
times were distinctly perceived by any individual who lived
prior to their actual appearance. The reason for this uncer-
tainty and probable ignorance is the same with that which has
been so clearly exhibited by Bishop Horsley, and applied in
refutation of an infidel objection, in the closely related field
of prophecy. It was necessary, for the very ends of prophecy,
that a certain disguise should remain over the events it foretold,
till they became facts in providence ; and therefore, ' whatever
private information the prophet might enjoy, the Spirit of God
would never permit him to disclose the ultimate intent and
particular meaning of the prophecy.'3 Types being a species
of prophecy, and from their nature less precise and determinate
in meaning, they must certainly have been placed under the
veil of a not inferior disguise. Whatever insight more advanced
believers might have had into their ultimate design, it could
neither be distinctly announced, nor, if announced, serve as a
sufficient directory for us ; it could only furnish, according to
the measure of light it contained, comfort and encouragement
to themselves. And whether that measure might be great or
small, vague and general, or minute and particular, we should

1 Treatise on the Three Dispensations, vol. ii. p. 57.

2 Historical Types, p. 221. 3 Horsley's Works, vol. i. pp. 271-273.

BPECIFIC PRINCIPLES AM) DIRECTIONS. 185

not be bound, even if we knew it, to abide by its rule; for
here, as in prophecy, the judgment of the early Church 'must
still bow down to time as :i more informed expositor.'

That the sincere worshippers of God in former ages, espe-
cially such as possessed the higher degrees of spiritual thought
and discernment, were acquainted not only with God's general
purpose of redemption, but also with some of its more pro-
minent features and results, we have no reason to doubt. It
is Impossible to read those portions of Old Testament Scripture
which disclose the feelings and expectations of gifted minds,
without being convinced that considerable light was sometimes
obtained respecting the work of salvation. We shall find an
opportunity for inquiring more particularly concerning this,
when we come to treat, in a subsequent part of our investiga-
tions, respecting the connection between the moral legislation
and the ceremonial institutions of Moses. But that the views
even of the better part of the Old Testament worshippers must
have been comparatively dim, and that their acceptance as
worshippers did not depend upon the clearness of their discern-
ment in regard to the person and kingdom of Christ, is evident
from what was stated in our second chapter as to the relatively
imperfect nature of the earlier dispensations, and the childhood
state of those who lived under them. It was the period when,
as is expressly stated in the Epistle to the Hebrews,1 'the way
into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest ;' or, in other
words, when the method of salvation was not fully disclosed
to the view of God's people. And though we may not be
warranted to consider what is written of the closing age of Old
Testament times as a fair specimen of their general character,
yet we cannot shut our eyes to the fact, that not only did much
prevailing ignorance then exist concerning the better things of
the New Covenant, but that instances occur even of genuine
believers, who still betrayed an utter misapprehension of their
proper nature. Thus Nathanael was pronounced ' an [sraelite

indeed, in whom there was no guile,' while he obviously

laboured under inadequate views of Christ's person and work.

And no sooner had Peter received the peculiar benediction
best I. on account of his explicit confession of the truth,

1 Oh. ix. S.

186 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

than he gave evidence of his ignorance of the design, and his
repugnance to the thought, of Christ's sufferings and death.
Such things occurring on the very boundary-line between the
Old and the New, and after the clearer light of the New had
begun to be partially introduced, render it plain, that they may
also have existed, and in all probability did not unfrequently pre-
vail, even among the believing portion of Israel in remoter times.
But such being the case, it would manifestly be travelling in
the wrong direction to make the knowledge, which was possessed
by ancient believers regarding the prospective import of parti-
cular types, the measure of our own. The providential arrange-
ments and religious institutions which constitute the types, had
an end to serve, independently of their typical design, in minis-
tering to the present wants of believers, and nourishing in their
souls the life of faith. Their more remote and typical import
was for us, even more than for those who had immediately to
do with them. It does not rest upon the more or less imperfect
information such persons might have had concerning it; but
chiefly on the light furnished by the records of the New Testa-
ment, and thence reflected on those of the Old. l It is Christ
who holds the key of the types, not Moses;' and instead of
making everything depend upon the still doubtful inquiry, "What
did pious men of old descry of Gospel realities through the
shadowy forms of typical institutions 1 we must repair to these
realities themselves, and by the light radiating from them over
the past, as well as the present and future things of God, read
the evidence of that ( testimony of Jesus,' which lies written in
the typical not less than in the prophetical portions of ancient
Scripture.

III. But if in this respect we have comparatively little to do
with the views of those who lived under former dispensations,
there is another respect in which we have much to do with
them. And our next principle of interpretation is, that wTe
must always, in the first instance, be careful to make ourselves
acquainted with the truths or ideas exhibited in the types, con-
sidered merely as providential transactions or religious institutions.
In other words, we are to find in what they were in their im-
mediate relation to the patriarchal or Jewish worshipper, the

SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES AND DIRECTION.-. 187

foundation and substance of what they typically present to the
Christian Church*

There is no contrariety between this principle and the one
last announced. We had stated, that in endeavouring to ascer-
tain the reality and the nature of a typical connection between
Old and New Testament affairs, we are not to reason downward
from what miirht be known of this in earlier times, but rather
upward from what may now be known of it, in consequence of
the clearer light and higher revelations of the Gospel. What
we further state now is, that the religious truths and ideas which
were embodied in the typical events and institutions of former
times, must be regarded as forming the ground and limit of
their prospective reference to the affairs of Christ's kingdom.
That they had a moral, political, or religious end to serve for
the time then present, so far from interfering with their desti-
nation to typify the spiritual things of the Gospel, forms the
very ground and substance of their typical bearing. Hence
their character in the one respect, the more immediate, may
justly be regarded as the essential key to their character in
respect to what was more remote.

This principle of interpretation grows so necessarily out of
the views advanced in the earlier and more fundamental parts
of our inquiry, that it must here be held as in a manner proved.
Its validity must stand or fall with that of the general princi-
ples we have sought to establish, as to the relation between type
and antitype. That relation, it has been our object to show,
rests on something deeper than merely outward resemblances.
It rests rather on the essential unity of the things so related, on
their being alike embodiments of the same principles of divine
truth ; but embodiments in the case of the type, on a lower and
earthly scale, and as a designed preparation for the higher de-
velopment afterwards to be made in the Gospel. That, there-
fore, which goes first in the nature of things, must also go first
in any successful effort to trace the connection between them.
And the question, What elements of divine truth are symbol-
ized in the type! must take precedence of the other question,
How did the type foreshadow the greater realities of the anti-
tvpe? For it is in the solution we obtain for the one, that a
foundation is to be laid for the solution of the other.

183 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

It is only by keeping stedfastly to this rule, that we shall be
able, in the practical department of our inquiry, to direct our
thoughts to substantial, as opposed to merely superficial and
fanciful resemblances. The palpable want of discrimination in
this respect, between what is essential and what is only acci-
dental, formed one of the leading defects in our elder writers.
And it naturally sprang from too exclusive a regard to the anti-
type, as if the things belonging to it being fully ascertained, we
were at liberty to connect it with everything formally resem-
bling it in ancient times, whether really akin in nature to it or
not. Thus, when Kanne, in a passage formerly referred to,
represents the stone which Jacob took for his pillow at Bethel
as a type of Christ in His character as the foundation-stone of
His Church, there is, no doubt, a kind of outward similarity, so
that the same language may, in a sense, be applied to both; but
there is no common principle uniting them together. The use
which Jacob made of the stone was quite different from that in
respect to which Christ is exhibited as the stone laid in Zion —
being laid not for the repose or slumber, but for the stability
and support, of a ransomed people. For this the strength and
durability of a rock were absolutely indispensable ; but they con-
tributed nothing to the fitness of what Jacob's necessities drove
him to employ as a temporary pillow. It was his misfortune, not
his privilege, to be obliged to resort to a stone for such a purpose.

We had occasion formerly to describe in what manner the
lifting up of the brazen serpent in the wilderness might be
regarded as typical of the lifting up of a crucified Redeemer,
by showing how the inferior objects and relations of the one
had their correspondence in the higher objects and relations of
the other!1 But suppose we should proceed in the opposite
direction, and should take these higher objects and relations of
the antitype as the rule and measure of what we are to expect
in the type, then, having a far wider and more complicated
subject for our starting-point, we should naturally set about
discovering many slight and superficial analogies in the type, to
bring it into a fuller correspondence with the antitype. This is
what many have actually done who have treated of the subject.
Hence we find them expatiating upon the metal of which the

1 Ch. iii. p. 91.

SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES AND DIRECTIONS. L89

serpent was formed, and which, from being inferior to some
others, they regard as foreshadowing Christ's outward meanness,
while in its solidity they discern I Lis divine Btrength. and in its
dim lustre the veil of His human nature!1 What did it avail
to the Israelite, or for any purpose the serpent had to serve, of
what particular stuff it was made I A dead and senseless thing
in itself, it must have been all one for those who were called
to look to it, whether the material was brass or silver, wood or
>'. And yet, as if it were not enough to make account of
these trifling accidents, others were sometimes invented, for
which there is no foundation in the inspired narrative, to obtain
reater breadth of the one subject a corresponding
breadth in the other. Thus Guild represents the serpent as not
having been forged by man's band or hammer, but by a mould,
and in the fire, to image the divine conception of Christ's
human nature; and Justin Martyr, with still greater licence,
supposes the serpent to have been made in the form of a cross,
the more exactly to represent a suffering Redeemer. Suppose
it had been modelled after this form, would it have been
n nd' red thereby a more effective instrument for healing the
diseased ? Or would one essential idea have been added to
what either an Israelite or a Christian was otherwise at liberty
to associate with it I All such puerile straining of the subject
arose from an inverted order being taken in tracing the con-

Ction between the spiritual reality and the ancient shadow.
It would no longer be thought of, if the principle of interpre-
tation here advanced were strictly adhered to; that is, if the
typical matter of an event or institution were viewed simply as

inding in the truths or principles which it brought distinctly
into view ; and if these were regarded as actually comprising all
that in each particular case could legitimately be applied to the
anti-typical affairs of Christ's kingdom.

The judicious application of this principle will serve also to
rid us of another class of extrava. ana S which are of frequent
occurrence in writer* of the Cocceian school, and which mainlj
consist, like those already noticed, of external resemblanc
deduced with little or no regard to any real principle of agr
ut. We refer to the customary mode of handling typical
1 Qui :' 94 '. and W cAarirt.

190 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

persons or characters, with no other purpose apparently than
that of exhibiting the greatest possible number of coincidences
between these and Christ. As many as forty of such have been
reckoned between Moses and Christ, and even more between
Joseph and Christ. Of course a great proportion of such re-
semblances are of a quite superficial and trifling nature, and
are of no moment, whether they happen to be perceived or not.
For any light they throw on the purposes of Heaven, or any
advantage they yield to our faith, we gain nothing by admitting
them, and we lose as little by rejecting them. They would
never have been sought for had the real nature of the connec-
tion between type and antitype been understood, and the proper
mode of exhibiting it been adopted ; nor would typical persons
or individuals, sustaining a typical character through the whole
course and tenor of their lives, have been supposed to exist. It
was to familiarize the Church with great truths and principles,
not to occupy her thoughts with petty agreements and fanciful
analogies, that she was kept so long conversant with preparatory
dispensations. And as that end might have been in part served
by a single transaction, or a special appointment in a lifetime,
so, whenever it was served, it must have been by virtue of its
exhibiting important aspects of divine truth — such as were to
reappear in the person and work of Christ. It is not, in short,
individuals throughout the entire compass of their history, but
individuals in certain divinely appointed offices or relations,
in which we are to seek for what is typical in this province of
sacred history.1

1 Scarcely any of the late works on the types published in this country
are free from the extravagances we have referred to respecting personal
types. They assume, however, the most extreme form in the German
work of Kanne, published in 1818. There the mere similarity of names
is held as a conclusive proof of a typical connection ; so that Miriam, sister
of Moses, was a type of Mary, for the Jews call the former Maria, as well
as the latter. The work is full of such puerilities. It is the same tendency,
however, to rest in merely superficial resemblances which led Schbttgen,
for example, in his Horse, Heb. on 1 Cor. x. 2, and leads some still, to hold
that the Israelites must have been 'bedewed and refreshed1 by the cloud.
It is true the sacred narrative is silent about that, nor is any support to be
found for it in the Jewish writings; but it seemed to the learned author
necessary to make out a typical relation to baptism, and so he regards it

SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES AND DIRECTIONS. 191

IV. Another conclusion flowing not less clearly than the
foregoing from the views already established, and which we
propose as our next leading principle of interpretation, is, that
while the symbol or institution constituting the type has pro-
perly but one radical meaning, yet the fundamental idea or prin-
ciple exhibited in it may often be capable of more than one
application to the realit the Gospel ; that is, it may bear

respect to, and be developed in, more than one department of
the affairs of Christ's kingdom. But in illustrating this pro-
position, we must take in succession the several parts of which
it consists.

1. The first part asserts each type to be capable of but one
radical meaning. It has a definite way of expressing some
fundamental idea — that, and no more. Were it otherwise, we
should find any consistent or satisfactory interpretation of
typical things quite impracticable, and should often lose our-
selves in a sea of uncertainty. An example or two may serve
to show how far this has actually been the case in the past.
Glassius makes the deluge to typify botli the preservation of
the faithful through baptism, and the destruction of the wicked
in the day of judgment; and the rule under which he adduces
this example is, that i a type may be a figure of two, and even
contrary things, though in different respects.' ! In like manner,
Taylor, taking the full liberty of such a canon, when interpret-
ing the passage of the Israelites through the lied Sea as a type
of baptism, sees in that event, first, • the offering of Jesus
Christ to their faith, through the Red Sea, of whose death and
passion they should find a sure and safe way to the celestial
Canaan ; ' and then this other truth, that ' by His merit and
mediation He would carry them through all difficulties and
dangers, as deep as the bottom of the sea, unto eternal rest.'2
In this last specimen the Red Sea is viewed as representing at
the same time, and in relation to the same persons, both the

jis in a maimer self-evideflfc. Od the same ground, of course, Neali and bis
family must have been all sprinkled or dipped in the flood, since this too
was the type of baptism !

1 PhUolog. Sac. lib. ii. p. 1, Trac. ii. sec. 4, § 8. He quotes from
Cornelius ,i Lapide, but adopts the rule as good.
- Motet and Aaron, p. 237.

192 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

atoning blood of Christ and the outward trials of life. The
other example is not so palpably incorrect, nor does it in fact go
to the entire length, which the rule it is designed to illustrate
properly warrants ; for the action of the waters in the deluge is
considered by it with reference to different persons, as well as
in different respects. It is at fault, however, in making one
event typical of two diverse and unconnected results. Many
other examples might be produced of similar false interpreta-
tions from what has been written of the tabernacle and its
services, equally indicative, on the part of the writers, of a
capricious fancy, and in themselves utterly destitute of any
solid foundation.

Our previous investigations, we trust, have removed this
prolific source of ambiguity and confusion ; for, if we have not
entirely failed of our object, we have shown that the typical
transactions and symbols of the Old Testament are by no
means so vague and arbitrary as to be capable of bearing senses
altogether variable and inconsistent. Viewed as a species of
language, which they really were — a speaking by action instead
of words — they could only reach the end they had to serve by
giving forth a distinct and intelligible meaning. Such language
can no more do this than oral or written discourse, if constructed
so as to be susceptible of the most diverse and even opposite
senses. By the necessities of the case, therefore, we are con-
strained to hold, that whatever instruction God might design to
communicate to the Church, either in earlier or in later times,
by means of the religious institutions and providential arrange-
ments of past times, it must have been such as admits of being
derived from them by a fixed and reasonable mode of inter-
pretation. To suppose that their virtue consisted in some
capacity to express meanings quite variable and inconsistent
with each other, would be to assimilate them to the uncertain
oracles of heathenism.

2. This is to be understood in the strictest sense of such
typical acts and symbols, as, from their nature, were expressive
of a simple, uncompounded idea. In that case, it would be an
incongruity to make what was one in the type, present, like a
revolving light, a changeful and varying aspect toward the
antitype. But the type itself might possibly be of a complex

SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES AND DIRECTIONS. 103

nature ; that is, it might embody a process which branched out
into two or more lines of operation, and so combined two or
more related ideas together. In such a case, there will require
to be a corresponding variety in the application that is made
from the type to the antitype. The twofold, or perhaps still
more complicated, idea contained in the one must have its
counterpart in the other, as much as if each idea had received
a separate representation; though due regard must be paid to
the connection which they appear to have one with another, as
component elements of the same type. For example, the event
of the deluge, recently adverted to, which at once bore on its
bosom an elect seed, in safe preservation for the peopling of a
new world, and overwhelmed in perdition the race of ungodly
men who had corrupted the old, unquestionably involves a
complex idea. It embodies in one great act a double process —
a process, however, which was accomplished simultaneously in
both its parts ; since the doing of the one carried along with it
the execution of the other. In thinking, therefore, of the New
Testament antitype, we must have respect not only to the two
ideas themselves severally represented, but also to their relation
to each other ; we must look for some spiritual process, 'which
in like manner combines a work of preservation with a work
<it" destruction. In the different fates of the righteous and
the wicked — the one as appointed to salvation, ami the other
to perdition — we have certainly a twofold process and result;
but have we the two in a similar combination? We certainly
have them so combined in the personal history and work of
Christ, as His triumph and exaltation inevitably involved the
bruising of Satan ; and the same shall also be found in the
final judgment, when, by putting down for ever all adver
authority and rule, Christ shall raise His Church to the
dominion and the glory. If the typical connection between
the deluge and God's grander works of preservation and de-
struction is put in either of these lights, the objection we
lately offered to the interpretation of Glassius will be obviated,
and the requirements of a scriptural exegesis satisfied. A like
combination of two ideaa is found in the application made of
the deluge by the Apostle Peter to the ordinance of baptism,
as will be shown iu due time. And there are, besides, many
"\<>L. I. N

194 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

things connected with the tabernacle and its services — for
example, the use made in them of symbolical numbers, the
different kinds of sacrifice, the ritual of cleansing — which are
usually so employed as to convey a complex meaning, and a
meaning that of necessity assumes different shades, according
to the different modifications employed in the use of the sym-
bolical materials. Such differences, however, can only be of a
minor kind ; they can never touch the fundamental character
of the typical phenomena, so as to render them expressive in
one relation of something totally unlike to what they denoted
in another. A symbolical act or institution can as little be
made to chance its meaning arbitrarily, as a term in language.
Its precise import must always be determined, first by an in-
telligent consideration of its inherent nature, and then by the
connection in which it stands.

3. It is one thing, however, to maintain that a type, either
as a whole or in its component parts, can express only one
meaning ; and another, to allow more than one application of it
to the affairs of Christ's kingdom. Not only is there an organic
connection between the Old and the New dispensations, giving
rise to the relation of type and antitype, but also an organic
connection between one part and another of the Gospel dispen-
sation ; in consequence of which the ideas and principles ex-
hibited in the types may find their realization in more than one
department of the Gospel system. The types, as well as the
prophecies, hence often admit of ' a springing and germinant
accomplishment.' They do so especially in those things which
concern the economical relation subsisting between Christ and
His people ; by reason of which He is at once the root out of
which they grow, and the pattern after which their condition
and destiny are to be formed. If on this account it be neces-
sary that in all things He should have the pre-eminence, it is
not less necessary that they should bear His image, and share
in His heritage of blessing. So closely are they identified with
Him in their present experience and their future prospects,
that they are now spoken of as having l fellowship with Him
in His sufferings,' being ' planted with Him in the likeness of
His death,' and again 'planted with Him in the likeness of His
resurrection,' 'sitting with Him in heavenly places/ having

SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES AND DIRECTIONS. 105

'their life hid with Him in God,' and being at last raised to
'inherit His kingdom, and sit with Him upon His throne.' In
short, the Church as a whole is conformed to His likeness ;
while, again, in each one of her members is reproduced an
image of the whole. Therefore the principles and ideas which,
by means of typical ordinances and transactions, were pcr-
] tualiy exhibited before the eye of the Old Testament Church,
while they must find their grand development in Christ Him-
self, must also have farther developments in the history of His
Church and people. They have respect to our relations and
experiences, our state and prospects, in so far as these essentially
coincide with Christ's ; for, so far, the one is but a partial re-
newal or a prolonged existence of the other.

There are things of a typical nature, it is proper to add,
which in a more direct and special manner bear respect to the
Church and people of Christ. The rite of circumcision, for
example, the passage through the lied Sea, the judgments in
the wilderness, the eating of manna, and many similar things,
must obviously have their antitypes in the heirs of salvation
rather than in Him, who in this respect stood alone; He was
personally free from sin, and did not Himself need the blessings
II" provided for others. So that, when the apostle writes of
the ordinances of the law, that they were ' shadows of good
things to come, but the body is of Christ' (Col. ii. 17), he is
not to be understood as meaning that Christ personally and
alone is the object they prospectively contemplated, but Christ
together with His body the Church — the events and interests
of the Gospel di-pensation. In this collective sense Christ is
mentioned also in 1 Cor. xii. 12 and Gal. iii. 16. Nor is it by
any means an arbitrary sense ; for it is grounded in the same
vital truth, on which we have based the admissibility of a two-
fold application or bearing of typical things, viz. the organic
union subsisting between Christ and His redeemed people —
'lie in them, and they in Him.'

V. Another principle of interpretation arising out of the
preceding investigations, and necessary to be borne in mind for
the right understanding of typical symbol- and transactions i<.

that due regard must be had to the essential difference between the

196 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

nature of type and antitype. For as the typical is divine truth
on a lower stage, exhibited by means of outward relations and
terrestrial interests, so, when making the transition from this to
the antitypical, we must expect the truth to appear on a loftier
stage, and, if we may so speak, with a more heavenly aspect.
What in the one bore immediate respect to the bodily life, must
in the other be found to bear immediate respect to the spiritual
life. While in the one it is seen and temporal objects that
ostensibly present themselves, their proper counterpart in the
other are the unseen and eternal : — there, the outward, the pre-
sent, the worldly ; here, the inward, the future, the heavenly.

A change and advance of the kind here supposed, enters
into the very vitals of the subject, as unfolded in the earlier
part of our inquiry. The reason why typical symbols and insti-
tutions were employed by God in His former dealings with His
Church, arose from the adoption of a plan which indispensably
required that very progression in the mode of exhibiting divine
truth. The world was treated for a period as a child that must
be taught great principles, and prepared for events of infinite
magnitude and eternal interest, by the help of familiar and
sensible objects, which lay fully open to their view, and came
within the grasp of their comprehension. But now that we
have to do with the things themselves, for which those means
of preparation were instituted, we must take care, in tracing
the connection between the one and the other, to keep steadily
in view the essential difference between the two periods, and
with the rise in the divine plan give a corresponding rise to the
application we make of what belonged to the ancient economy.
To proceed without regard to this — to look for the proper
counterpart of any particular type in the same class of objects
and interests as that to which the type itself immediately re-
ferred— would be to act like those Judaizina; Christians who,
after the better things had come, held fast at once by type and
antitype, as if they stood upon the same plane, and were con-
structed of the same materials. It would be to remain at the
old foundations, while the scheme of God has risen to a higher
place, and laid a new world, as it were, open to our view. If,
therefore, we enter aright into the change which has been
effected in the position of the divine kingdom, and give to that

SPECIFIC ITvIXCirLES AND DIRECTIONS. 107

its proper weight in determining the connection between typo
and antitype, we must look for things in the one, corresponding
indeed to those in the other, hut at the same time proportion-
ally higher and greater: and, in particular, must remember
that, according to the rule, internal things now take the place
of external, and spiritual of bodily.

Much discretion, however, which it is impossible to bound
by such precis-- and definite rules as might meet all conceivable
cases, will be necessary in applying the principle now indi-
cated to individual examples. In the majority of cases there
will be no difficulty ; for the distinction we mention between the
( )ld and the New is so manifest, as to secure a certain degree
of uniformity even among those who are not remarkable for
discrimination. And, indeed, the writers most liable to err
in other respects — persons of delicate sensibilities and spiritual
feeling — are less in danger of erring here, as they have usually
a clear perception of the more inward and elevated character
of the Gospel dispensation. The point in regard to which
they are most likely to err concerning it, and that which really
forms the chief difficulty in applying the principle now under
consideration, arises from what may be called the mixed nature
of the things belonging to Messiah's kingdom. As contra-
distinguished from those of earlier dispensations, and rising
above them, we denominate the realities of the Gospel spiritual,
heavenly, eternal. And yet they are not totally disconnected
with the objects of flesh and time. The centre-point of the
whole, Jesus Christ, not only sojourned in bodily form upon
the earth, but had certain conditions to fulfil of an outward
and bodily kind, which were described beforehand in prophecy,
and may also, of course, have had their typical adumbrations.
In the case of the Church, too, her life of faith is not alto-
gether of an inward nature, and confined to the hidden man of
the heart. It touches continually on the corporeal and visible ;
and certain events essentially connected with her progress and
destiny — such as the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, the calling
of the Gentiles, the persecutions of the world, the doom of
Antichrist — could not take place without -assuming an outward
and palpable form. "What, then, it may be asked, becomes of
the characteristic difference between the Old and the New, so

198 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

far as such things are concerned? Must not type and anti-
type still be found substantially on the same level ?

By no means. The proper inference is, that there are cases
in which the difference is less broadly marked ; but it still
exists. The operations, experiences, and blessings peculiar to
the dispensation of the Gospel, are not all of a simply inward
and spiritual nature ; but they all bear directly on the interests
of a spiritual salvation, and the realities of a heavenly and
eternal world. The members of Christ's kingdom, so loner as
they are in flesh and blood, must have their history interwoven
on every side with the relations of sense and time, and be
themselves dependent upon outward ordinances for the exist-
ence and nourishment of their spiritual life. Yet, whatever is
external in their privileges and condition, has its internal side,
and even its avowed reason, in things pertaining to the soul's
salvation, and the coming inheritance of glory. So that the
spiritual and heavenly is here always kept prominently in view,
as the end and object of all ; while in Old Testament times
everything was veiled under the sensible relations of flesh and
time, and, excepting to the divinely illuminated eye, seemed as
if it did not look beyond them.

For example, the deluge and baptism so far agree in form,
that they have both an outward operation ; but the operation,
in the one case, has to do directly with the preservation and
destruction of an earthly life, while in the other it bears im-
mediately upon the life of immortality in the soul. The cruci-
fixion of Christ and the slaying of the paschal lamb were alike
outward transactions ; but the direct and ostensible result con-
templated in the first, was salvation from the condemnation and
punishment of sin ; in the second, escape from corporeal death,
and deliverance from the yoke of an earthly bondage. In like
manner, it might be said to be as much an outward transaction
for Christ to ascend personally into the presence of the Father,
as for the high priest to go within the veil with the blood of
the yearly atonement ; but to rectify men's relation to a worldly
sanctuary and an earthly inheritance, was the immediate object
sought by this action of the high priest, while the appearance
of Christ in the heavenly places was to secure for His people
access to the everlasting kingdom of light and glory. In such

SrEClFIC PRINCIPLES AND DIRECTIONS. 199

cases, the common property of a certain outwardness in the
acta and operations referred to, is far from placing them on the
same level ; a higher element still appears in the one as com-
pared with the other. But if, on the other hand, we should

. as has often been said, that [saac's bearing the wood for
the altar typified Christ's bearing His cross to Calvary, we
bring together two circumstances which do stand precisely
upon the same level, are alike outward in their nature, and no
more in the one than in the other involve any rise to a higher
sphere of truth. Else, how should a common man, Simon
the Ovrcnian, have shared with Christ in the bearing of the
burden I

But, undoubtedly, the most pernicious examples of this false
style of typical applications are those which, from comparatively
early times, have been employed to assimilate the New Testa-
ment economy in its formal appearance and administration to
the Old, and for which Home is able to avail herself of the
authority of many of the more distinguished fathers. By means
chiefly of mistaken parallels from Jewish to Christian times,
— mistaken, because they virtually ignored the rise that had
taken place in the divine economy, — everything was gradually
brought back from the apostolic ideal of a spiritual community,
founded on the perfect atonement and priesthood of Christ, to
the outwardness and ritualism of ancient times. The sacrifices
of the law, it was thought, must have their correspondence in
the offering of the Eucharist ; and as every sacrificial offering
mint have a priest to present it, so the priesthood of the Old

■ enant, determined by genealogical descent, must find its
substitute in a priesthood determined by apostolical succession.
It was but a step further, and one quite natural in the circum-
stances, to hold, that as the ancient hierarchy culminated in a
high priest at Jerusalem, so the Christian must have a similar
culmination in the Bishop of Rome. In these and many similar
applications of Old Testament things to the ceremonial institu-
tions and devices of Romanism, there is a substantial perpetua-
tion of the Judaizing error of apostolic times — an adherence to
the oldness and carnality of the letter, after the spiritual life
and more elevated standing of the New has come. A. 'ending
to it, everything in Christianity as well as in Judaism is made

200 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

to turn upon formal distinctions and ritual observances ; and
that not the less because of a certain introduction of the higher
element, as in the substitution of apostolical succession and the
impressed character of the new priesthood, for the genealogical
descent and family relationship of the old. Such slight altera-
tions only affect the mode of getting at the outward things
established, but leave the outwardness itself unaffected ; they
are of no practical avail in lifting Christianity above the old
Judaistic level.1

The Protestant Church, however, has not been without its
false typical applications, proceeding on the same fundamental
mistake. They are found especially among the Grotian school
of divines, whose low and carnal tone is continually betraying
itself in a tendency to depress and lower the spiritual truths of
the Gospel to a conformity with the simple letter of Old Testa-
ment Scripture. The Gospel is read not only through a Jewish
medium, but also in a Jewish sense, and nothing but externals
admitted in the New, wherever there is descried, in the form of
the representation, any reference to such in the Old. It is one
of the few services which neological exegesis has rendered to
the cause of divine truth, that by a process of exhaustion it has
nearly emptied this meagre style of interpretation of the measure
of plausibility it originally possessed. But it is still occasionally
followed, in the particular respect now under consideration, by
theological writers of a higher stamp. Thus, the doctrine of
election, as unfolded in the epistles of the New Testament, is
held by the advocates of a modified Arminianism to be impro-
perly understood of an appointment to personal salvation and
an eternal life, on the special ground that the election of the
Jewish people was only their calling as a nation to outward
privileges and a temporal inheritance. Rightly understood,
however, this is rather a reason why election in the Christian
sense should be made to embrace something higher and better.
For the proper counterpart under the Gospel to those external
relations of Judaism, is the gift of grace and the heirship of
glory — the lower in the one case shadowing the higher in the
other — the outward and temporal representing the spiritual and

1 See this subject admirably treated in Air. Litton's work on the Church,
p. 535, § 7 ; also his Bampton Lecture, Sermon viii.

SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES AND DIRECTIONS. 201

eternal. Even Macknight, who cannot certainly be charged
with any excess of the spiritual element in his interpretation-.
perceived the necessity of making, as he expresses it, i the
natural seed the type of the spiritual, and the temporal blessings
the emblems of tin- eternal.' I I>nce he justly regards the out-
ward professing Church in the one case, with its election to the
earthly Canaan, as answering in the other to the ' invisible
Church, consisting of believers of all nations, who, partaking
the nature of God by faith and holiness, are truly the sons of
Ciod, and have the inheritance of His blessing.'1

The characteristic differences, with their respective limita-
tions and apparent anomalies, maybe briefly stated thus: — It
belongs properly to the New dispensation to reveal divine and
spiritual things distinctly to the soul, while in the Old they are
presented under the veil of something outward and earthly.

1 On Rom. ix. 8. For the other side, sec Whitby on the same chapter,
on 1 Pot. ii. 9; Grave's Works, vol. iii. p. 288. Archbishop Whately,
in his Essays on the Peculiarities of the Gospel, p. 95, gives the representa-
tion a somewhat different turn from Whitby and Graves. lie regards the
Israelites as not haying been ' elected absolutely and infallibly to enter the
promised land, to triumph over their enemies, and live in security, wealth,
and enjoyment ; but only to the privilege of having these blessings placed
within their reach, on the condition of their obeying the law which God had
given them.' Whence, he infers, Christians are only elected in the same
sense to t lie privileges of a Gospel condition, and the promise of final sal-
vation. In regard to election in the Gospel sense, such a representation
vanishes before a few plain texts, — such as, ' Many are called, but few are
lording to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
sanotilieation of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus;' ' According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of
the world . . . having predi 1 us unto the adoption of children by

Jesus Christ to Himself.' If such passages do not imply election to a state
of personal salvation, it is not in the power of language to express the idea.
In regard to the Israelites, also, the election and the promise were made
absolutely, — ' To thy b< ed will I give this land," and tho proper inference

pecting thoa who afterwards perished in the wilderness, without being
permitted to enter the land, is simply, that tie y wm-notof that poi !
of the seed who were elect, according to the foreknowledge of God, to the
promised inheritance. It is true they might justly be said to have lo
for disobeying the law ; but viewed in respect to their connection with the
calling and promise of God, it was their want of faith to connect them with
these, their unbelief, which was the source of perdition, tie- root at once of
their disobedience, and of the disinheritance which ensued. (Jleb. iii. 19.)

202 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

The spiritual and divine itself, which always, as a living under-
current, ran beneath this exterior veil, might, even during the
existence of the Old, come directly into view ; but whenever it
did so, there was no longer a figure or type of the true, but the
true itself. Thus, in so far as the seed of Israel were found an
election of God, actually partaking of the grace and blessing of
the covenant, — in so far as they were a royal priesthood, cir-
cumcised in heart to the Lord, — they showed themselves to be
possessed of the reality of a justified condition and a spiritual
life. The exhibitions that may have been given by any of them
of such a state, were not typical in the sense of foreshadowing
something higher and better under the Gospel ; and if those
in whom they appeared are spoken of as types, it must be as
specimens, not as adumbrations — patterns of what is common to
the children of faith in every age. The only connection possible
in such a case, is that which subsists between type and impres-
sion, exemplar and copy, not that between type and antitype.

Turning to the things of the New dispensation, we have
simply to reverse the statement now made. While here the
spiritual and divine are exhibited in unveiled clearness, it is
quite conceivable that they may at times have appeared under
the distinctive guise of the Old, imbedded in fleshly and material
forms. Especially might this be expected to happen at the be-
ginning of the Gospel, when the transition was in the course of
bein^ made from the Old to the New, as the Messiah came
forth to lay the foundations of His spiritual and everlasting
kingdom on the external theatre of a present world. It was
natural at such a time for God graciously to accommodate His
ways to a weak faith, and facilitate its exercise, by making the
things that appeared under the New wear the very livery of
those that prefigured them under the Old. This is precisely
what was done in some of the more noticeable parts of Christ's
earthly history. But in so far as it was done, — that is, in so far
as some outward transaction in the Old reappeared in a like
outward transaction in the new, — their relation to each other
could not properly be that of type ami antitype, but only of
exemplar and copy, unless the New Testament transaction,
while it bore a formal resemblance to that of the Old, was itself
at the same time the sensible exponent of some higher truth.

SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES AND DIRECTIONS. - 3

If it wore this, then the relation would still be substantially
that of type and antitype. And sueh indeed it is, in the few-
cases which actually fall within the range of these remarks,
and which, when superficially viewed, seem at variance with the
principle of interpretation we are seeking to establish.

Lei us in conclusion, glance at the cases themselves. The
recall of the infant Jesus from the land of Egypt, after a tern-
porary sojourn there, is regarded by the Evangelist Matthew as
the correlative in New Testament times to the deliverance of
Israel under the Old. It is impossible to overlook the indica-
tion of a similar connection, though none of the Evangelists
have expressly noticed it, between Israel's period of trial and
temptation for forty years in the wilderness, and Christ's with-
drawal into the wilderness to be tempted forty days of the devil.
The Evangelist John sets the singular and apparently accidental
preservation of Christ's limbs on the cross, beside the prescrip-
tion regarding the paschal lamb, not to let a bone of him be
broken, and sees in the one a divinely appointed compliance
with the other.1 And in the Epistle to the Hebrews," the cruci-
fixion of Jesus beyond the gates of Jerusalem is represented,
not indeed as done to establish a necessary, but still as exhibit-
ing an actual, correspondence with the treatment of those sin-
(II. lings which were burned without the camp. There can be
no doubt that in each of these instances of formal agreement
between the Old and the New, the transactions look as if they
were on the same level, and appear equally outward in the one
as in the other. Shall we say, then, that on this account they
do not really stand to each other in the relation of type and
antitype I or that there was some peculiarity in the later trans-
actions, which still, amid the apparent sameness, raised them
to a sufficient elevation above the earlier! This last supposi-
aceive to be the correct one.

First of all, it was not unnatural, when there was so little
faith in the Church, and when such great things were in the

' DO

Coarse of being accomplished, that certain outward and palpable
correspondences, such as we have noticed, should have be< □

exhibited. It was a kind and gracious ace unodatiou on the

part of God to the ignorance and weakness of the times. The
1 Ch. xir. 86. * Oh, xiii. 12.

204 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

people were almost universally looking in the wrong direction
for the things connected with the person and kingdom of Mes-
siah ; and He mercifully controlled in various respects the
course and progress of events, so as, in a manner, to force on
their notice the marvellous similarity of His working now to
what He had clone in the days of old. He did what was fitted
to impress visibly upon the darker features of the evangelical
history His own image and superscription, and to mark them
out to men's view as wrought according to the law of a foreseen
and pre-established harmony. Yet we should not expect such
obvious and palpable marks of agreement to be commonly
stamped by the hand of God upon the new things of His king-
dom, as compared with the old ; we should rather regard them
as a sort of extraordinary and peculiar helps granted to a weak
and unenlightened faith at the beginnings of the kingdom.
And even when so granted, we should not expect them to con-
stitute the whole of the matter, but should suppose something
further to be veiled under them than immediately meets the eye
— a deeper agreement, of which the one outwardly appearing
was little more than the sign and herald.

This supposition gathers strength when we reflect that the
outward agreement, however manifest and striking in some
respects, is still never so uniform and complete as to convey the
impression that the entire stress lay there, or that it was de-
signed to be anything more than a stepping-stone for the mind
to rise higher. Thus, while the child Jesus was for a time
located in Egypt, and again brought out of it by the special
providence of God, like Israel in its youth ; yet what a differ-
ence between the two cases — in the length of time spent in the
transactions, and the whole circumstances connected with their
accomplishment ! Jesus and Israel alike underwent a period of
temptation in a wilderness before entering on their high calling ;
but again, how widely different in the actual region selected
for the scene of trial, and the time during which it was con-
tinued ! Christ's crucifixion beyond the gates of Jerusalem,
and the preservation of His limbs from external violence, ex-
hibited a striking resemblance to peculiarities in the sacrifices of
the passover and sin-offering — enough to mark the overruling
agency of God; but in other outward things there were scarcely

SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES AND DIRECTIONS. 205

less marked discrepancies — nothing for example, in the sacri-
fices referred to, corresponding with the pierced side of Jesus,
or His suspension on the cross; and nothing again in Jesus
formally answering to the sacrificial rites of the imposition of
hands, the sprinkling of blood, or the burning of the carcase.
These, and other defects that might be named in the external
rrespondence between the New and the OKI, plainly enough
indicate that the outward agreement was, after all, not the main
thing, nor the thing that properly constituted the typical con-
nection between them. Else, where such agreement failed, the
connection must have failed too; and in many respects Christ
should not have been the 'body' of the ancient shadows in
more, perhaps, than those in which He actually was. Who
would not shrink from such a conclusion? But we can find no
adequate reason for avoiding it, except on the ground that the
occasional outward coincidences between our Lord's personal
history and things in God's earlier dispensations were the signs
of a typical relationship rather than that relationship itself, — a
likeness merely on the surface, which gave indication of a deeper
and more essential agreement.

This peculiarity in some of the typical applications of Scrip-
ture has its parallel in the applications also sometimes made of
the prophecies. AVe merely point for examples to the employ-
ment by St. John, ch. xix. 37, of Zcch. xii. 10, "They shall
look on me whom they have pierced," or by St. Matthew in ch.
ii. 23, viii. 17, of other prophetical testimonies, and refer to the
explanations given of them in our Appendix. In such cases it
i- obvious, on a little reflection, that the outward and corporeal
things with which the word of prophecy is immediately con-
nected, fell so far short of their full meaning, that if they were
fitly regarded as a fulfilment of what had been spoken, it was
re because of the index they afforded to other and greater
things yet to come, than of what was accomplished in themselves.
It was like pointing to t ho little cloud in the horizon, which may
be scarcely worth noticing in itself, but which assumes another
aspect when it is discerned to be the sign and the forerunner ot
gathering vapours, and floods of drenching rain. The begin-
ning and the end, the present si{ u and the coming reality, are
then seen blending together, and appear to form but one object.

CHAPTER SEVENTH.

THE PLACE DUE TO THE SUBJECT OF TYPOLOGY AS A BRANCn
OF THEOLOGICAL STUDY, AND 1
FROM ITS PROPER CULTIVATION

OF THEOLOGICAL STUDY, AND THE ADVANTAGES ARISING

The loose and incorrect views which so long prevailed on the
subject of Typology, and which, till recently, had taken a direc-
tion tending at once to circumscribe their number and lessen
their importance, have had the effect of reducing it to little more
than a nominal place in the arrangement of topics calling for
exact theological discussion. For any real value to be attached
to it in the order of God's revelations, or any light it is fitted to
throw, when rightly understood, on the interpretation of Scrip-
ture, we search in vain amid the writings of our leading herme-
neutical and systematic divines. The treatment it has most
commonly received at their hands is rather negative than posi-
tive. They appear greatly more concerned about the abuses to
which it may be carried, than the advantages to which it may be
applied. And were it not for the purpose of exploding errors,
delivering cautions, and disowning unwarrantable conclusions,
it is too plain the subject would scarcely have been deemed
worthy of any separate and particular consideration.

If the discussion pursued through the preceding chapters
has been conducted with any success, it must have tended to
produce a somewhat different feeling upon the subject. Various
points of moment connected with the purposes of God and the
interpretation of Scripture must have suggested themselves to
the reflective reader, as capable both of receiving fresh light,
and of acquiring new importance from a well-grounded system
of Typology. One entire branch of the subject — its connec-
tion with the closely related field of prophecy — has already, on
account of the principles involved in it, been considered in a
separate chapter. At present we shall look to some other points
of a more general kind, which have, however, an essential bear-

20G

THE PROPER PLACE OF TYPOLOGY. 207

inn- on the character of a divine revelation, and which will enable
us to present, in a variety of lights, the reasonableness and im-
portance of the views we have been endeavouring to establish.

I. We mark, first, an analogy in God's methods <>/ preparatory
instruction, as adopted by Him at different but somewhat cor-
responding periods of the Church's history. In one brief period

its existence, the Church of the New Testament might be
said to stand in a very sitnil.ir relation to the immediate future,
that the Church of the Old Testament generally did to the more
distant future of Gospel times. It was the period of our Lord's
earthly ministry, during which the materials were in preparation
for the actual establishment of His kingdom, and His disciples
were subjected to the training which was to fit them for taking
part in its affairs. The process that had been proceeding for
ages with the Church, had, in their experience, to be virtually
begun and completed in the short space of a few years. And
we are justly warranted to expect that the method adopted
during this brief period of special preparation toward the first
members of the New Testament Church, should present some
leading features of resemblance to that pursued with the Old
Testament Church, as a whole, during her immensely more
lengthened period of preparatory training.

Now, the main peculiarity, as we have seen, of God's method
of instruction and discipline in respect to the OKI Testament
Church, consisted in the use of symbol and action. It was
chiefly by means of historical transactions and symbolical rites
that the ancient believers were taught what they knew of the
truths and mysteries of grace. For the practical guidance and
direction of their conduct they were furnished with means el'
information the most literal and express; but in regard to the
spiritual concerns and objects of the Messiah's kingdom, all was
couched under veil and figure. The instruction given addressed
itself to the eye rather than to the ear. It came intermingled
with the things they saw and handled ; and while it necessarily
made them familiar with the elements of Gospel truth, it nut
less necessarily left them in comparative ignorance as to the
particular events and operations in which the truth was to find
its ultimate and proper realization.

208 THE T1TOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

How entirely analogous was the course pursued by our Lord
with His immediate disciples during the period of His earthly
ministry! The direct instruction He imparted to them was,
with few exceptions, confined to lessons of moral truth and duty
— freeing the law of God from the false glosses of a carnal and
corrupt priesthood, which had entirely overlaid its meaning, and
disclosing the pure and elevated principles on which His king-
dom was to be founded. But in regard to what might be called
the mysteries of the kingdom, — the constitution of Christ's per-
son, the peculiar character of His work as the Redeemer of a
sinful and fallen world, and the connection of all with a higher
and future world, — little instruction of a direct kind was im-
parted up to the very close of Christ's earthly ministry. On
one or two occasions, when He sought to convey more definite
information upon such points, the disciples either completely
misunderstood His meaning, or showed themselves incapable of
profiting by His instructions.1 So that, in the last discourse He
held with them before His death, He spoke of the many things
He had yet to say to them, but which, as they still could not
bear them, had to be reserved to the teaching of the Holy
Spirit, who should come and lead them into all the truth.
Were they, therefore, left without instruction of any kind
respecting those higher truths and mysteries of the kingdom %
Certainly not ; for throughout the whole period of their con-
nection with Christ, they were constantly receiving such in-
formation as could be conveyed through action and symbol ; or
more correctly, through action and allegory, which was here
made to take the place of symbol, and served substantially the
same design.

The public life of Jesus was full of action, and in that, to a
laro-e extent, consisted its fulness of instruction. Every miracle
Pie performed was a type in history ; for, on the outward and
visible field of nature, it revealed the divine power He was
goino* to manifest, and the work He came to achieve in the
higher field of grace. In every act of healing men's bodily
diseases, and supplying of men's bodily wants, there was an
exhibition to the eye of sense at once of His purpose to bring
salvation to their souls, and of the principles on which that
1 Matt. xvi. 21-23 ; Luke xviii. 34 ; John ii. 19-22, vi.

ITS PROPER PL \CE AND IMPORTANCE. 200

salvation should proceed. In like manner, when He resorted to
the parabolic method of instruction, it was but another employ-
ment of the familiar ami sensible things of nature, under the
form of allegory, to convey still further instruction respecting
the spiritual and divine things of His kingdom. The procedure,
no doubt, involved a certain exercise of judgment toward those
who had failed to profit, as they ought, by 1 1 is more simple and
direct teaching.1 But for His own disciples it formed a cover,
through which He could present to them a larger amount of
spiritual truth, and impart a more correct idea of His kingdom,
than it was possible for them, as yet, by any other method to
obtain. Every parable contained an allegorical representation
of some particular aspect of the kingdom, which, like the types
of an earlier dispensation, only needed to be illumined by the
facts of Gospel history, to render it a clear and intelligible
image of spiritual and divine realities.

Thus the special training of our Lord's disciples very closely
corresponded to the course of preparatory dispensations through
which the Church at large was conducted before the time of
His appearing. Such an analogy, pursued in circumstances so
altered, and through periods so widely different, bespeaks the
consistent working and presiding agency of Him 'who is the
same yesterday, to-day, ami for ever.' It furnishes also a ready
and effective answer to the Socinian argument against the
peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, on account of the comparative
silence maintained respecting them in the direct instructions
of Christ. 'Can such doctrines,' they have sometimes asked,
'enter so essentially, as is alleged, into the original plan of
Christianity, when its divine Author Himself says so little about
them — when in all He taught His disciples there is at most but
a limited number of passages which seem to point with any
definiteness in that direction V The analogy of God's dealings
with His Church, during the earlier dispensations, furnishes us
with the answer. Christ and the mysteries of His redemption

were the common end contemplated in those dealings, and of
the institutions of worship that accompanied them ; and yet
many centuries of preparatory instruction and discipline were
permitted to elap.se before the objects themselves were brought

1 Matt. xiii. 11-15.
VOL. I. O

210 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

distinctly into view. Should it, then, be deemed strange or un-
accountable that the persons immediately chosen by Christ to
announce them, were made to undergo a brief but perfectly
similar course of preparation, under the eye of their divine
Master % It could not have been otherwise. The facts of
Christianity are the basis of its doctrines ; and until those facts
had become matter of history, the doctrines could neither be
explicitly taught nor clearly understood. They could only be
obscurely represented to the mind through the medium of typical
actions, symbolical rites, or parabolical narratives. And it re-
sults as much from the essential nature of things as from the
choice of its divine Author, that the mode of instruction, which
was continued through the lengthened probation of the Old
Testament Church, should have found its parallel in ' the
beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.'

II. But there is an analogy of faith and practice which is of
still greater importance than any analogy that may appear in
the methods of instruction. However important it may be to
note resemblances in the mode of communicating divine truth,
at one period as compared with another, it is more so to know
that the truth, however communicated, has always been found
one in its tendency and working ; that the earlier and the
later, the Old and the New Testament Churches, though differ-
ing widely in light and privilege, yet breathed the same spirit,
walked by the same rule, possessed and manifested the same
elements of character. A correct acquaintance with the Typology
of Scripture alone explains how, with such palpable differences
subsisting between them, there should still have been such
essential uniformity in the result.

In the writings of the New Testament, especially in the
epistles, it is very commonly the differences between the Old
and the New, rather than the agreements, that are pressed on
our notice. A necessity for this arose from the abuse to which
the Jews had turned the handwriting of ordinances delivered
to them by Moses. In the carnality of their minds, they
mistook the means for the end, embraced the shadow'for the
substance, and so converted what had been set up for the
express purpose of leading them to Christ, into a mighty

ITS PROPER PLACE AND IMPORTANCE. 211

stumblingblock to obstruct the way of their approach to Him.
On this account it became necessary to bring prominently on'
the differences between the preparatory and the ultimate schemes
of God. and to show that what was perfectly suited to the one
was quite unsuited to the other. But there were, at the same
time, many real agreements of a most essential nature between
them, and these also are often referred to in New Testament

ipturev Moses and Christ, when closely examined and
I as to the more fundamental parts of their respective
-terns, are found. to teach in perfect harmony with each
other. The law and the prophets of the Old Testament, and
the gospels and epistles of the New, exhibit but different phases
of the same wondrous scheme of irrace. The li<_dit varies from
time to time in its clearness and intensity, but never as to the
elements of which it is composed. And the very differences
which so broadly distinguish the Gospel dispensation from all
that went before it, when taken in connection with the entire
plan and purpose of God, afford evidence of an internal harmony
and a profound agreement.

The truth of what we say, if illustrated to its full extent,
would require us to traverse almost the entire field of Scripture
Typology. We shall therefore content ourselves here with
selecting a single point, which, in its most obvious aspect,
b longs rather to the differences than the agreements between
the ( )ld and the New dispensations. For in what do the two
more apparently and widely differ from each other than in

ard to the place occupied in them respectively by the doctrine
of a future state? In the Scriptures of the New Testament,
the eternal world comes constantly into view ; it meets us in
every page, inspirits every religious character, mingles with
every important truth and obligation, and gives an ethereal
tone and an ennobling impress to the whole genius and frame-
work of Christianity. Nothing of this, however, is to be found
in the earlier portions of the word of God. That these contain
no reference of any kind to a future state of rewards and
punishments, we are far from believing, as will abundantly
appear in the sequel. But still the doctrine of such a tate is
nowhere broadly announced, as an essential article of faith, in
the revelations of Old Testament Scripture ; it has no distinct

212 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

and easily recognised place either in the patriarchal or the
Levitical dispensations ; it is never set forth as a formal ground
of action, and is implied, rather than distinctly affirmed or
avowedly acted on, excepting when it occasionally appears
among the confessions of pious individuals, or in the later
declarations of prophecy ; so that, though itself one of the first
principles of all true religion, there yet was maintained respect-
ing it a studied caution and reserve in the revelations of God
to men, up to the time when He came who was to ' bring life
and immortality to light.'1

This obvious difference between the Old and the New Tes-
tament revelations, in respect to a future state, has been deemed
such a palpable incongruity, that sometimes the most forced
interpretations have been resorted to with the view of getting
rid of the fact, while at other times extravagant theories have
been proposed to account for it. But we have no need to look
further than to the typical character of God's earlier dispensa-
tions for a measure of satisfaction respecting the difficulty —
and we shall find it in nothing else. For, leave this out of view
— suppose that God's method of teaching and training the
Old Testament Church was not necessarily formed on the plan
of unfolding Gospel ideas and principles by means of earthly
relations and fleshly symbols — then we see not how it could
have consisted with divine wisdom to keep such a veil hanging
for so many ages over the realities of a coming eternity. But
let the typical element be duly taken into account — let it be
understood that inferior and earthly things were systematically
employed of old to image and represent those which are
heavenly and divine — and then we shall be equally unable to
see how it could have consisted with divine wisdom to have
disclosed the doctrine of a future state, otherwise than under

1 A clear proof in a single instance of what is here said of the Old Testa-
ment in respect to an eternal world, may be found in what is written of
Enoch, ' He was not, for God took him,' and this because he had walked
with God. A causal connection plainly existed between his walk on earth
and his removal to God's presence ; and yet this is so indicated as clearly
to show that it was the divine purpose to spread a veil of secrecy over the
future world, as if the distinct knowledge of it depended on conditions that
could not then be formally brought out.

ITS PROPER PLACE AND IMPORTANCE. 213

the figures anil shadows of what is seen and temporal. For
this doctrine, in its naked form, stands inseparably connected
with the facts of Christ's deatli and resurrection, on which it
is entirely based as a ground of consolation, and an object of
hope to the believer. And if the one had been openly disclosed,
while the other still remained under the veil of temporary
shadows, utter confusion must necessarily have been introduced
into the dispensations of God : the Old Covenant, with ordi-
nances suited only to an inferior and preparatory course of
training, should have possessed a portion of the light properly
belonging to a complete and finished revelation. The ancient
Church, with her faith in that case professedly directed on the
eternal world, must have lost her symbolical relation to the
present ; her experiences must have been as spiritual, her life
as hidden, her conflict with temptation, and victory over the
world, as inward as those of believers under the Gospel. But
then the Church of the Old Testament, being without the clear
knowledge of Christ and His salvation, still wanted the true
foundation for so much of a spiritual, inward, and hidden
nature ; and it must have been next to impossible to prevent
false confidences from mingling with her expectations of the
future, since she had only the shadowy and carnal in worship
with which to connect the real and eternal in blessing.

Is this not what actually happened in the case of the later
Jews I In the course of that preparatory training through
which they were conducted, an increasing degree of light was
at hugth imparted, among other things, in respect to a future
state of reward and punishment. The later Scriptures contained
not a few quite explicit intimations on the subject;1 and by
the time of Christ's appearing, the doctrine of a resurrection
from the dead to a world of endless happiness or misery, formed
irly as distinct and prominent an article in the Jewish faith
now in the Christian.9 Now, this had been well, and
should have only disposed the Jews to give to Jesus a m
enlightened and hearty reception, had they been careful to
couple with the clearer view thus obtained, and the more direct,
introduction of a future world, the intimations that accompanied

1 For example, in Hoe. xiii. 1 1 ; Dan. xii. 2 : ha. xrvi. 19.
acta xxiii. 6, xxvi. 6-8 ; Matt. v. 29, x. 28, etc.

214 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

it of a higher and better dispensation — of the old things, under
which they lived, being to be done away, that others of a nobler
description might take their place. But this was what the
later Jews, as a class, failed to do. Partial in their knowledge
of Scripture, and confounding together the things that differed,
they took the prospect of immortality as if it had been directly
unfolded, and ostensibly provided for in the shadowy dispensa-
tion itself. The result necessarily was, that that dispensation
ceased in their view to be shadowy ; it contained in itself, they
imagined, the full apparatus required for sinful men, to redeem
them from the curse of sin, and bring them to eternal life ;
and whatever purposes the Messiah might come to accomplish,
that He should supplant its carnal observances by something
of a higher nature, and more immediately bearing on the im-
mortal interests of man, formed no part of their expectations
concerning Him. Thus, by coming to regard the doctrine of
a future state of happiness and glory as, in its naked or direct
form, an integral part of the revelations of the Old Covenant,
they naturally fell into two most serious mistakes. They first
overlooked the shadowy nature of their religion, and exalted it
to an undue rank by looking to it for blessings which it was
never intended, unless typically, to impart ; and then, when the
Messiah came, they entirely misapprehended the great object of
His mission, and lost all participation in His kingdom.

So much, then, for the palpable difference in this respect
between the Old and the New. There was a necessity in the
case, arising from the very nature of the divine plan. So long
as the Church was under symbolical ordinances and typical
relations, the future world must fall into the background ; the
things concerning it could only appear imaged in the seen and
present. But that they did appear so imaged — in this, with all
the outward diversity that prevailed, there still lay an essential
agreement between the Old dispensation and the New. The
minds of believers under the former neither were, nor could be,
an entire blank in regard to a future state of beiner. From the
very first — as we shall see afterwards when we come to trace
out the elements of the primeval religion — there was in God's
dealings and revelations toward them what in a manner com-
pelled them to look beyond a present world : it was so manifestly

ITS PROPER PLACE AND IMPORTANCE, 215

impossible to realize here, with any degree of completeness, the
objects He seemed to have in view. And the under-cunvnt
of thought and expectation thus silently awakened toward the
future, was continually fed by everything being arranged and
ordered in the present, so as to establish in their minds :i pro-
found conviction of a divine retribution. The things con-
nected with their relation to a worldly sanctuary, and an earthly
inheritance of blessing, were one continued illustration of the
principle' So firmly expressed by Abraham, 'that the Judge of
all the earth must do right ; ' and, consequently, that in the
final issues of things, ' it must be well with the righteous, and
ill with the wicked.' The bringing distinctly out of this pre-
Bent recompense in the divine administration, and with infinite
variety of light and vividness of colouring, impressing it on the
consciences of God's people, was the peculiar service rendered
by the ancient economy in respect to a coming eternity; and
the peculiar service which, as a preparatory economy, it requi
to render. For the belief of a present retribution must, to a
large extent, form the basis of a well-grounded belief in a future
one. And for the believing Israelite himself, who lived under
the operation of such strong temporal sanctions, and who was
habituated to contemplate the unseen in the seen, the futu
in the past, there was everything in the visible movements of
Providence around him, both to confirm in him the expectation
of a coining state of reward and punishment, and to form him
to the dispositions and conduct which might best prepare him
for meeting it. His position so far differed from that of be-
lievers now, that he was not formally called to direct his views
to the coming world, and he had comparatively slender means
of information concerning its realities. But it agreed in this,
that he too was a child of faith, believing in the retributi
character of God's administration: and in him, as well as in
US, only in a more outward and sensible manner, this faith had
its trials and dangers, its discouragements, its warriugs with the
flesh and the world, its times of weakness and of Btrength, its
blessed satisfactions and triumphant victories. In short, his
light, so far as it went, was the same with ours; it was the
ne also in the nature of its influence on his heart and con-
duct ; and if he but faithfully did his part amid the scenes and

216 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

objects around him, he was equally prepared at its close to take
his place in the mansions of a better inheritance, though he
might have to go to them as one not knowing whither he went.1
Thus it appears, on careful examination, that all was in
its proper place. A mutual adaptation and internal harmony
binds together the Old and the New dispensations, even under
the striking diversity that characterizes the two in respect to a
future world. And the further the investigation is pursued,
the more will there appear of this kind of agreement. It will
be found that the connection of the Old with the New is some-
thing more than typical, in the sense of foreshadowing, or for-
mally imaging what was to come ; it is also inward and organic.
Amid the ostensible differences there is a pervading unity of
spirit and design — one faith, one life, one hope, one destiny.
And while the Old Testament Church, in its outward condition
and earthly relations, typically adumbrated the spiritual and
heavenly things of the New, it was also, in so far as it realized
and felt the truth of God presented to it, the living root out of
which the New ultimately sprang. The rude .beginnings were
there of all that exists in comparative perfection now.

III. Another advantage resulting from a correct knowledge
and appreciation of the Typology of ancient Scripture, is, the
increased value and importance xoith which it invests the earlier
portions of revelation. This has respect more especially to the
historical parts of Old Testament Scripture ; yet not to these
exclusively. For the whole of the Old Testament will be
found to rise in our esteem, in proportion as wTe understand
and enter into its typological bearing. But the point may be
more easily and distinctly illustrated by a reference to its records
of history.

Many ends, undoubtedly, had to be served by these ; and
we must beware of making so much account of one, as if it
were the whole. Even the least interesting and instructive
parts of the historical records, the genealogies, are not without
their use ; for they supply some valuable materials both for the
general knowledge of antiquity, and for our acquaintance, in
particular, with that chosen line of Adam's posterity which was
1 See last Section of this Volume.

ITS PROPER PLACE AND IMPORTANCE. 217

to have its culmination in Christ. But the narratives in which
these genealogies are imbedded, which record the lives of so
many individuals, portray the manners and customs of such
different ages and nations, and relate the dealings of God's
providence and the communications <>f His mind with bo many
of the earliest characters and tribes in the world's history, —
these, in themselves, and apart altogether from any prospective
reference they may have to Gospel times, are on many accounts
interesting and instructive. Nor can they be attentively perused,
as simple records of the past, without being found : profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in
righteousness.1

Yet when viewed only in that light, one-half their worth is
still not understood ; nor shall we be able altogether to avoid
some feeling of strangeness occasionally at the kind of notices
embraced in the inspired narrative. For whatever interest and
instruction may be connected with it, how trifling often are the
incidents it records! how limited the range to which it chiefly
draws our attention! and how easy might it seem, at various
points, to have selected other histories, which would have led
the mind through scenes more obviously important in themselves,
and less closely, perhaps, interwoven with evil! Unbelievers
have often given to such thoughts as these an obnoxious form,
and have endeavoured by means of them to bring sacred Scrip-
ture into discredit. But in doing so, they have only displayed
their own onesidedness and partiality : they have looked at
this portion of the word of God in a contracted light, and aw
from its proper connection with the entire plan of revelation.
Let tin- notices of Old Testament history be viewed in their
Bubservience to the scheme of grace unfolded in the Gospel —
let the iield which it traverses, however limited in extent, and
the transactions it describes, however unimportant in a political

pect, be regarded as that field, and those transactions, through
which, as on a lower and common staLfe, the Lord sought to
familiarize the minds of His people with the truths ami prin-
ciples which were ultimately to appear in the highest affairs
of His kingdom — let the notices of Old Testament history be
\ iewed in this light, which is the one that Scripture itself brin
prominently forward, and then what dignity and importance is

218 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

seen to attach to every one of them ! The smallest movements
on the earth's surface acquire a certain greatness when con-
nected with the law of gravitation ; since then even the fall of
an apple from the tree stands related to the revolution of the
planets in their courses. And, in like manner, the relation
which the historical facts of ancient Scripture bear to the
glorious work and kingdom of Christ, gives to the least of them
such a character of importance, that they are brought within
the circle of God's highest purposes, and are perceived to be
in reality 'the connecting links of that golden chain which
unites heaven and earth.'

This, however, is not all. While a proper understanding
of the Typology of Scripture imparts an air of grandeur and
importance to its smallest incidents, and makes the little re-
latively great, it does more. It warrants us to proceed a step
further, and to assert that such personal narratives and com-
paratively little incidents as fill up a large portion of the history,
not only might without impropriety have been admitted into
the sacred record, but that they must to some extent have been
found there, in order to adapt it properly to the end which it was
intended to serve. It was precisely the limited and homely
character of many of the things related which rendered them
such natural and easy stepping-stones to the discoveries of a
higher dispensation. It is one thing that an arrangement exists
in nature, which comprehends under the same law the falling
of an apple to the ground, and the vast movements of the
heavenly bodies; but it is another thing, and also true, that
the perception of that law, as manifested in the motion of the
small and terrestrial body — because manifested there on a scale
which man could bring fully within the grasp of his compre-
hension— was what enabled him to mount upwards and scan
the similar, though incomparably grander, phenomena of the
distant universe. In this case, there was not only a connection
in nature between the little and the great, but also such a connec-
tion in the order of man's acquaintance with both, that it was the
knowledge of the one which conducted him to the knowledge
of the other. The connection is much the same that exists
between the facts of Old Testament history and the all-im-
portant revelations of the Gospel — with this difference, indeed,

ITS PROPER PLACE AND IMPORTANCE. 219

that the laws and principles developed amid the familiar objects
and comparatively humble scenes of the one, were not so properly
designed to fit man for discovering, as for receiving when dis-
covered, the sublime mysteries of the other. But to do this, it
was not less necessarv here than in the case above referred to,
that the earlier developments sin mid have been made in connec-
tion with things of a diminutive nature, such as the occurrences
of individual history, or the transactions of a limited kingdom.
A series OI events considerably more grand and majestic could
not have accomplished the object in view. They would have
been too far removed from the common course of things, and
would have been more fitted to gratify the curiosity and dazzle
the imagination of those wdio witnessed or read of them, than to
indoctrinate their minds with the fundamental truths and prin-
ciples of God's spiritual economy. This result could be best
produced by such a series of transactions as we find actually
recorded in the Scriptures of the Old Testament — transactions
infinitely varied, yet always capable of being quite easily grasped
and understood. And thus, what to a superficial consideration
appears strange, or even objectionable, in the structure of the
pired record, becomes, on a more comprehensive view, an
evidence of wise adaptation to the wants of our nature, and of
supernatural foresight in adjusting one portion of the divine
plan to another.

It will be readily understood, that what we have said of the
purpose of God with reference more immediately to those who
lived in Old Testament times, applies, without any material
difference, to such as are placed under the Christian dispensa-
tion. For what the transactions required to be for the accom-
plishment of God's purpose in regard to the one, the record of
these transactions required to be for the accomplishment of Hi I
purpose in regard to the other. Whatever confirmation such
things may lend to our faith in the mysteries of God — what-
ever force or clearness to our perceptions of the truth — what-
ever encouragement to our hopes or direction to our walk in the
ki'cof holiness and virtue, it may all be .said to depend upon the
history being composed of facts so homely in their character
ami so circumscribed in their range, that the mind can without
dilliculty both realize their existence and enter into their spirit.

220 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

IV. Another service — the last we shall notice — which a
truly scriptural Typology is fitted to render to the cause of
divine knowledge and pi'actice, is the aid it furnishes to help out
spiritual ideas in our minds, and enable us to realize them with
sufficient clearness and certainty. This follows very closely on
the consideration last mentioned, and may be regarded rather
as a further application of the truth contained in it, than the
advancement of something altogether new. But we wish to draw
attention to an important advantage, not yet distinctly noticed,
connected with the typical element in Old Testament Scripture,
and on which to a considerable extent the people of God are
still dependent for the strength and liveliness of their faith.

It is true they have now the privilege of a full revelation
of the mind of God respecting the truths of salvation ; and this
elevates their condition, as to spiritual things, far above that of
the Old Testament believers. But it does not thence follow
that they can in all respects so distinctly apprehend the truth
in its naked spirituality, as to be totally independent of some
outward exhibition of it. We are still in a state of imperfection,
and are so much creatures of sense, that our ideas of abstract
truth, even in natural science, often require to be aided by
visible forms and representations. But things strictly spiritual
and divine are yet more difficult to be brought distinctly within
the reach and comprehension of the mind. — It was a relative
advantage possessed by the Old Testament worshipper, in con-
nection with his worldly sanctuary, and the more- fleshly dis-
pensation under which he lived, that spiritual and divine things,
so far as they were revealed to him, acquired a sort of local
habitation to his view, and assumed the appearance of a life-
like freshness and reality. Hence chiefly arose that ' impression
of passionate individual attachment,' as it has been called,
which, in the authors of the Old Testament Scriptures, appears
mingling with and vivifying their faith in the invisible, and
which breathes in them like a breath of supernatural life.
What Hengstenberg has said in this respect of the Book of
Psalms, may be extended to Old Testament Scripture generally:
' It has contributed vast materials for developing the conscious-
ness of mankind, and the Christian Church is more dependent
on it for its apprehensions of God than might at first sight be

ITS PROPER PLACE AND IMPORTANCE. 221

supposed. It presents God so clearly and vividly before men's
eyes, that they see Him, in a manner, with their bodily sight,
and thus find the sting taken out of their pains. In this, too,
lies one great element of its importance for the present times.
What iiitii now most of all need, is to have the blanched image
of God again freshened up in them. And the more closely we
connect ourselves with these sacred writings, the more will God
cease to be to us a shadowy form, which can neither hear, nor
help, nor judge us, and to which we can present nosupplieation.'1

Besides, there are portions of revealed truth which relate to
events still future, and do not at all come within the range of
our present observation and experience, though very important
as objects of faith and hope to the Church. It might materially
facilitate our conception of these, and strengthen our belief in
the certainty of their coming existence, if we could look back to
some corresponding exemplar of things, either in the symbolical
handwriting of ordinances, or in the typical transactions of an
earthly and temporal kingdom. lint this also has been pre-
pared to our hand by God in the Scriptures of the Old Testa-
ment. And to show how much may be derived from a right
acquaintance, both in this and in tin; other respect mentioned,
witli the typical matter of these Scriptures, we shall give here
a twofold illustration of the subject — the one referring to truths
affecting the present state and condition of believers, and the
other to such as respect the still distant future.

1. For our first illustration we shall select a topic that will
enable u<; at the same time, to explain a commonly misunder-
stood passage of Scripture. The passage is 1 Pet. i. 2, where,
-peaking of the elevated condition of believers, the apostle de-
scribes them as 'elect according to the foreknowledge of God
the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.' The peculiar
part of the description is the last — 'sprinkling with the blood of
Jesus Christ' — which, being represented along with obedien
as the end to which believers are both elected of the Father
and sanctified of the Spirit, seems at first sight to be out of its
proper place. The application of the blood of Christ is usually
thought of in reference to the pardon of sin, or its efficacy in
1 Supplem. Treati Ptalma, j \ii.

222 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the matter of the soul's justification before God ; when, of
course, its place stands between the election of the Father and
the sanctification of the Spirit. Nor, in that most common
reference to the effect of Christ's blood, is it of small advantage
for the attainment of a clear and realizing faith, that we have
in many of the Levitical services, and especially in those of the
great day of yearly atonement, an outward form and pattern
of things by which more distinctly to picture out the sublime
spiritual reality.

It is plain, however, that the sprinkling of Christ's blood,
mentioned by St. Peter, is not that which has for its effect the
sinner's pardon and acceptance (although Leightou and most
commentators have so understood it) ; for it is not only coupled
with a personal obedience, as being somewhat of the same
nature, but the two together are set forth as the result of the
electing and sanctifying grace of God upon the soul. The
good here intended must be something inward and personal ;
something not wrought for us, but wrought upon us and in us ;
implying our justification, as a gift already received, but itself
belonging to a higher and more advanced stage of our experi-
ence— to the very top and climax of our sanctification. What,
then, is it ? Nothing new, certainly, or of rare occurrence in
the word of God, but one often described in the most explicit
terms ; while yet the idea involved in it is so spiritual and ele-
vated, that we greatly need the aid of the Old Testament types
to give strength and vividness to our conceptions of it. The
blood of the sacrifices, by which the covenant was ratified at
the altar in the wilderness, was divided into two parts, with one
of which Moses sprinkled the altar, and with the other the
people.1 A similar division and application of the blood was
made at the consecration of Aaron to the , priesthood ;2 and
though it does not appear to have been formally, it was yet
virtually, done on the day of the yearly atonement, since all
the sprinklings on that day were made by the high priest, for
the cleansing of defilements belonging to himself, his house-
hold, and the whole congregation. ' Now ' (says Steiger on
1 Pet. i. 2), ' if we represent to ourselves the whole work of
redemption, in allusion to this rite, it will be as follows : — The
1 Ex. xxiv. 6-8. 2 Ex. xxix. 20, 21.

ITS PROPER PLACE AND IMPORTANCE. 223

piation of one and of all sin, the propitiation, was accom-
plished when Christ offered His blood to God on the altar of
the accursed tree. That done, lie went with His blood into
the most Holy Place. "Whosoever looks in faith to His blood,
has part in the atonement (Rom. iii. 25); that is, he is justi-
fied on account of it, receiving the full pardon of all his sins
( Rom. v. 9 i. Thenceforth he can appear with the whole com-
munity of fcelievers (1 John i. 7), full of boldness and con-
fidence before the throne of grace (Ileb. iv. 10), in order that
he may be purified by Christ, as high priest, from every evil
lust.' It is this personal purifying from every evil lust which
the apostle describes in ritual language as ' the sprinkling of
the blood of Jesus Christ,' and which is also described in the
Epistle to the Hebrews, with a similar reference to the blood of
Christ, by having ' the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience,'
and again ' by Inning the conscience purged from dead works to
serve the living God.' The sprinkling or purging spoken of in
these several passages, is manifestly the cleansing of the soul
from all internal defilement, so as to dispose and fit it for what-
ever is pure and good, and the purifying effect is produced by
the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, or its spiritual application
to the conscience of believers, because the blessed result is at-
tained through the holy and divine life, represented by that
blood, becoming truly and personally theirs.

Now, this great truth is certainly taught with the utmost
plainness in many passages of Scripture, — as when it is written
of believers, that ' their hearts are purified by faith ;' that they
'purify themselves, even as Christ is pure;' or when it is said
that 'Christ lives in them,' that ' their life is hid with Ilim in
God,' that ' they are in Him that is true, and cannot sin, be-
cause their seed (the seed of that new, spiritual nature, to
which they have been quickened by fellowship with the life of
Jesus) remains in them ;' and, in short, in every passage which
connects with the pure and spotless life-blood of Jesus an im-
partation of life-giving grace and holiness to His people. I
can understand the truth, even when thus spiritually, and, if I
may so say, nakedly expressed. But 1 feel that I can obtain a
more clear and comforting impression of it, when I keep my
• •ye upon the simple and striking exhibition given of it in the

224 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

visible type. For, with what effect was the blood of atone-
ment sprinkled upon the true worshippers of the old covenant ?
With the effect of making whatever sacredness, whatever virtue
(symbolically) was in that blood, pass over upon them : the life,
which in it had flowed out in holy offering to God, was given
to be theirs, and to be by them laid out in all pure and faithful
ministrations of righteousness. Such precisely is the effect of
Christ's blood sprinkled on the soul ; it is to have His life made
our life, or to become one with Him in the stainless purity
and perfection which expressed itself in His sacrifice of sweet-
smelling savour to the Father. What a sublime and elevating
thought ! It is much, assuredly, for me to know, that, by faith
in His blood, the crimson guilt of my sins is blotted out, Heaven
itself reconciled, and the way into the holiest of all laid freely
open for my approach. But it is much more still to know, that
by faith in the same blood, realized and experienced through
the power of the Holy Spirit, I am made a partaker of its sanc-
tifying virtue ; the very holiness of the Holy One of Israel
passes into me ; His life-blood becomes in my soul the well-
spring of a new and deathless existence. So that to be sealed
up to this fountain of life, is to be raised above the defilement
of nature, to dwell in the light of God, and sit as in heavenly
places with Christ Jesus. And, amid the imperfections of our
personal experience, and the clouds ever and anon raised in the
soul by remaining sin, it should unquestionably be to us a
matter of unfeigned thankfulness, that we can repair to such a
lively image of the truth as is presented in the Old Testament
service, in which, as in a mirror, we can see how high in this
respect is the hope of our calling, and how much it is God's
purpose we should enter into the blessing.

2. There are revelations in the Gospel, however, which point
to events still future in the Messiah's kingdom ; and in respect
to these, also, the typical arrangements of former times are
capable of rendering important service : a sendee, too, which
is the more needed, as the things indicated in regard to these
future developments of the kingdom are not only remote from
present observation, but also in many respects different from
what the ordinary course of events might lead us to expect.
We do not refer to the last issues of the Gospel dispensation,

ITS TROrER PLACE AND IMPORTANCE. 225

when the concerns of time shall have become finally merged in
the unalterable results of eternity; but to events, of which this
earth itself is still to be the theatre, in the closing periods of
Messiah's reign. This prospective ground is in many points
overlaid with controversy, and much concerning it must be re-
garded :b matter of doubtful disputation. Yet there are certain
great landmarks which intelligent and sober-minded Christians
can scarcely fail to consider as fixed. It is not, for example,
a more certain mark of the Messiah who was to come, that
lie should be a despised and rejected man, should pass through
the deepest humiliation, and, after a mighty struggle with evil,
attain to the seat of empire, than it is of the Messiah who has
thus personally fought and conquered, that He shall totally
Bubdne all the adversaries of His Church and kingdom, make
1 lis Church co-extensive with the boundaries of the habitable
globe, ami exalt her members to the highest position of honour
and blessing. For my own part, I should as soon doubt that
the first series of events were the just object of expectation
before, as the other have become since, the personal appearing
of Christ; and for breadth and prominence of place in the
prophetical portions, especially of New Testament Scripture,
this has all that could be desired in its behalf. But how far
.-till is the object from being realized I How unlikely, even,
that it should ever be so, if we had nothing more to found upon
than calculations of reason, and the common agencies of pro-
vidence !

That the progress of society in knowledge and virtue should
gradually lead, at however distant a period, to the extirpation of
idolatry, the abolition of the grosser forms of superstition, and
a general refinement and civilisation of manners, requires no

at stretch of faith to believe. Such a result evidently lies
within the bounds of natural probability, if only sufficient time
were given to accomplish it. But, suppose it already done, how
much would still remain to be achieved ere the glorious King
of Zion should have Sis promised ascendency in the affairs of
men, and the spiritual ends for which He especially rci:
mould be adequately secured ! This happy consummation
might still be found at an unapproachable distance, even when
the Other had passed into a reality; nor are there wanting

VOL. I. p

226 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

signs in the present condition of the world to awaken our fears
lest such may actually be the case. For in those countries
where the light of divine truth and the arts of civilisation have
become more widely diffused, we see many things prevailing
that are utterly at variance with the purity and peace of the
Gospel — numberless heresies in doctrine, disorders that seem
to admit of no healing, and practical corruptions which set at
defiance all authority and rule. In the very presence of the
light of heaven, and amid the full play of Christian influences,
the god of this world still holds possession of by far the larger
portion of mankind ; and innumerable obstacles present them-
selves on every side against the universal diffusion and the
complete ascendency of the pure principles of the Gospel of
Christ. When such things are taken into account, how hope-
less seems the prospect of a triumphant Church and a regene-
rated world ! of a Saviour holding the undivided empire of
all lands ! of a kingdom in which there is no longer anything
to offend, and all appears replenished with life and blessing !
The partial triumphs which Christianity is still gaining in
single individuals and particular districts, can go but a little
way to assure us of so magnificent a result. And it may well
seem as if other influences than such as are now in operation,
would require to be put forth before the expected good can
reach its accomplishment.

Something, no doubt, may be done to reassure the mind,
by looking back on the past history of Christianity, and con-
trasting its present condition with the point from which it started.
The small mustard-seed has certainly sprung into a lofty tree,
stretching its luxuriant branches over many of the best regions
of the earth. See Christianity as it appeared in its divine
Author, when He wandered about as a lowly and despised
teacher, attended only by a little band of followers as lowly
and despised as Himself ; or again, when He was hanging on a
malefactor's cross, His very friends ashamed or terrified to avow
their connection with Him ; or even at another and more ad-
vanced stage of its earthly history, when its still small, and now
resolute company of adherents, unfurled the banner of salvation,
with the fearful odds everywhere against them of hostile kings
and rulers, an ignorant and debased populace, a powerful and

ITS PROPER PLACE AND IMPORTANCE. c--7

interested priesthood, and a mighty host of superstitions, which
had struck their roots through the entire framework of society.
and had Income venerahle, as well as strong, 1 » v their antiquity.
See Christianity as it appeared then, and see it now standing
erect upon the ruins of the hierarchies and superstitions which
once threatened to extinguish it — planted with honour in the
regions where, for a time, it was scarcely suffered to exist — the
ognised religion of the most enlightened nations of the earth,
the delight and solace of the good, the study of the wise and
Learned, at once the source and the bulwark of all that is most
pure, generous, free, and happy in modern civilisation. Com-
paring thus the present with the past — looking down from the
altitude that has been reached upon the low and unpromising
condition out of which Christianity at first arose, we are not
without considerable materials in the history of the Gospel itself,
for confirming our faith in the prospects which still wait for
their fulfilment. On this ground alone it may scarcely seem
more unlikely that Christianity should proceed from the eleva-
tion it has already won to the greatly more commanding attitude
it is yet destined to attain, than to have risen from such small
beginnings, and in the face of obstacles so many and so power-
ful, to its present influential and honourable position.

But why not revert to a still earlier period in the Church's
history? Why withhold from our wavering hearts the benefit
which they might derive from the form and pattern of divine
things, formerly exhibited in the parallel affairs of a typical and
earthly kingdom ! It was the divine appointment concerning
Christ, that He should sit upon the throne of David, to order
and to establish it. In the higher sphere of God's administra-
tion, and for the world at large, He was to do what had born
done through David in the lower and on the limited territory
of an earthly kingdom. The history of the one, therefore, may
justly be regarded as the shadow of the other. But it is still
only the earlier part of the history of David's kingdom which
has found its counterpart in the events of Gospel times. The
Shepherd of Israel has been anointed King over the heritage of
the Lord, and the impious efforts of His adversaries to disannul
the appointment have entirely miscarried. The formidable train
of evils which obstructed His way to the throne of government,

228 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

and which were directed with the profoundest cunning and
malice by him who, on account of sin, had been permitted to
become the prince of this world, have been all met and overcome
— with no other effect than to render manifest the Son's inde-
feasible right to hold the sceptre of universal empire over the
affairs of men. Now, therefore, He reigns in the midst of His
enemies ; but He must also reign till these enemies themselves
are put down — till the inheritance has been redeemed from
all evil, and universal peace, order, and blessing have been
established.

Is not this also wdiat the subsequent history of the earthly
kingdom fully warrants us to expect? It was long after
David's appointment to the throne, before his divine right to
reign was generally acknowledged ; and still longer before the
overthrow of the last combination of adversaries, and the ter-
mination of the last train of evils, admitted of the kingdom
entering on its ultimate stage of settled peace and glory. The
affairs of David himself never wore a more discouraging and
desperate aspect, than immediately before his great adversary
received the mortal blow which laid him in the dust. After
this, years had to elapse before the adverse parties in Israel
were even externally subdued, and brought to render a formal
acknowledgment to the Lord's anointed. When this point,
again, had been reached, what internal evils festered in the
kingdom, and what smouldering fires of enmitv still burned !
Notwithstanding the vigorous efforts made to subdue these, we
see them at last bursting forth in the dreadful and unnatural
outbreak of Absalom's rebellion, which threatened for a time
to involve all in hopeless ruin and confusion. And with these
internal evils and insurrections, how many hostile encounters
had to be met from without ! some of which were so terrible,
that the very earth was felt, in a manner, to shake under the
stroke (Ps. lx.). Yet all at length yielded ; and partly by the
prowess of faith, partly by the remarkable turns given to events
in providence, the kingdom did reach a position of unexampled
prosperity, peace, and blessing. But in all this we have the
development of a typical dispensation, bringing the assurance
that the same position shall in due time be reached in the
hi idier sphere and nobler concerns of Messiah's kingdom. The

ITS PROPEB PLACE AND IMPORTANCE. 229

same determinate counsel and foreknowledge, the same living
energy, the same overruling Providence, is equally competent
now, as it is alike pledged, to secure a corresponding result.
And if the people of God have but discernment to read aright
the history of the past, and faith and patience to fulfil their
appointed task, they will find that they have no need to despair
of a successful issue, but every reason to hope that judgment
shall at, length be brought forth into victory.

This one illustration may meanwhile be sufficient to show
(others will afterwards present themselves) how valuable ;i
handmaid to the unfulfilled prophecies of Scripture may be
found in a correct acquaintance with its Typology. Its pro-
vince does not indeed consist in definitely marking out before-
hand the particular agents and transactions that are to fill up
the page of the eventful future. It performs the service which
in this respect it is fitted to accomplish, when it enables us to
obtain some insight — not into the tchat, or the when, or the in-
struments by which — but rather into the how and the wherefore
of the future, — when it instructs us respecting the nature of
the principles that must prevail, and the general lines of deal-
ing that shall be adopted, in conducting the affairs of Messiah's
kingdom to their destined results. The future here is mirrored
in the past ; and the thing that hath been, is, in all its essential
features, the same that shall be.

BOOK SECOND.

THE DISPENSATION OF PRIMEVAL AND PATRIARCHAL TIJIES.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

Hitherto we have been occupied chiefly with an investigation
of principles. It was necessary, in the first instance, to have
these ascertained and settled, before we could apply, with any
prospect of success, to the particular consideration of the typical
materials of Old Testament Scripture. And in now entering
on this, the more practical, as it is also the more varied and
extensive, branch of our subject, it is proper to indicate at the
outset the general features of the arrangement we propose to
adopt, and notice certain landmarks of a more prominent kind
that ought to guide the course of our inquiries.

1. As all that was really typical formed part of an existing
dispensation, and stood related to a religious worship, our pri-
mary divisions must connect themselves with the divine dispen-
sations. These dispensations were undoubtedly based on the
same fundamental truths and principles. But they were also
marked by certain characteristic differences, adapting them to
the precise circumstances of the Church and the world at the
time of their introduction. It is from these, therefore, we must
take our starting-points ; and in these also should find the
natural order and succession of the topics which must pass
under our consideration. In doing so we shall naturally look,
first, to the fundamental facts on which the dispensation is
based ; then to the religious symbols in which its lessons and
hopes were embodied ; and finally, to the future and subsidiary
transactions which afterwards carried forward and matured the
instruction.

230

PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 231

2. Iu the whole compass of sacred history we find onlv
three grand eras that can properly be regarded as the formative
epochs of distinct religious dispensations. For, according to
the principles already set forth (in ch. i\\), the things directly
belonging to creation, however they may have to be taken into
account as presupposed and referred to in what followed, still
do not here come into consideration as a distinct class, and
calling for independent treatment. The three eras, then, are
those of tin.- fall, of the redemption from Egypt, and of the
appearance and work of Chri>t, as they are usually designated ;
though they might be more fitly described, the first as the
entrance of faith and hope for fallen man, the second as the
giving of the law, and the third as the revelation of the Gospel.
For it was not properly the fall, but the new state and con-
stitution of things brought in after it, that, in a religious point
of view, forms the first commencement of the world's history.
Neither is it the redemption from Egypt, considered by itself,
but this in connection with the giving of the law, which was its
immediate aim and object, that forms the great characteristic,
of the second stage, as the coming of grace and truth by Jesus
Christ does of the third. Between the first and second of these
eras two very important events intervened — the deluge, and
the call of Abraham — both alike forming prominent breaks in
the history of the period. Hence, not unfrequently, the ante-
diluvian is distinguished from the patriarchal Church, and the
arch as it existed before, from the Church as it stood after,
the call of Abraham. But important as these events were, in
the order of God's providential arrangements, they mark no
material alteration in the constitutional basis, or even formal
aspect, of the religion then established. As regards the institu-
tions of worship, properly so called, Abraham and his descend-
ants appear to have been much on a footing with those who lived

the 11 1; and therefore not primary and fundamental,

but only subsidiary, elements of instruction could be evolved
by means of the events referred to. The same may also be
said of another great event, which formed a similar break
during the currency of the second period — the Babylonish
exile and return. This occupies a very prominent place in
Scripture, whether we look to the historical record of the event,

232 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

or to the announcements made beforehand concerning it in
prophecy. Yet it introduced no essential change into the
spiritual relations of the Church, nor altered in any respect the
institutions of her symbolical worship. The restored temple
was built at once on the site and after the pattern of that which
had been laid in ruins by the Chaldaeans ; and nothing more
was aimed at bv the immediate agents in the work of restora-
tion, than the re-establishment of the rites and services enjoined
by Moses. Omitting, therefore, the Gospel dispensation, as the
antitypical, there only remain for the commencement of the
earlier dispensations, in which the. typical is to be sought, the
two epochs already mentioned — those of Adam and Moses.

o. It is not simply the fact, however, of these successive
dispensations which is of importance for our present inquiry.
Still more depends for a well-grounded and satisfactory exhibi-
tion of divine truth, as connected with them, upon a correct
view of their mutual and interdependent relation to each other ,
the relation not merely of the Mosaic to the Christian, but also
of the Patriarchal to the Mosaic. For as the revelation of
law laid the foundation of a religious state which, under the
moulding influence of providential arrangements and prophetic
gifts, developed and grew till it had assumed many of the
characteristic features of the Gospel ; so the constitution of
grace, in its primary form after the fall, comparatively vague
and indistinct at first, gradually became more definite and
exact, and, in the form of heaven-derived or time-honoured
institutions, exhibited the germ of much that was afterwards
established as law. In the primeval period nothing wears a
properly legal aspect ; and it has been one of the current
mistakes, especially in this country, of theological writers — a
source of endless controversy and arbitrary explanations — to
seek there for law in the direct and obtrusive, when, as yet,
the order of the divine plan admitted of its existing only in the
latent form. We read of promise and threatening, of acts and
dealings of God, pregnant with spiritual light and moral obliga-
tion, meeting from the very first the wants and circumstances
of fallen man ; but of express and positive enactments there is
no trace. Some of the grounds and reasons of this will be
adverted to in the immediately following chapters. At present

PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 233

we simply notice the fact, as one of the points necessary to
be kept in view for giving a right direction to the course of
inquiry before us. Yet, on the other hand, while in the com-
mencing period of the Church's history we find nothing that
bears the rigid and authoritative form of law, we find on every
hand tli" foundations of law ; and these gradually enlarging
and widening, and sometimes even assuming a distinctly legal
aspect, before the patriarchal dispensation .dosed. So that, when
the properly legal period came, the materials, to a considerable
extent, were already in existence, and only needed to be woven
and consolidated into a compact system of truth and duty. It
is enough to instance, in proof of what has been stated, the
case of the Sabbath, not formally imposed, though divinely
instituted from the first — the rite of piacular sacrifice, very
similar (as we shall show) as to its original institution — the
division of animals into clean and unclean — the consecration
of the tenth to God — the sacredness of blood — the Levi rat"
usage — the ordinance of circumcision. The whole of these had
their foundations laid, partly in the procedure of God, partly
in the consciences of men, before the law entered ; and in
regard to some of them the law's prescriptions might be said
to be anticipated, while still the patriarchal age was in progress.
\- the period of law approached, there was also a visible
approach to its distinctive characteristics. And, without regard
had to the formal difference yet gradual approximation of the
two periods, we can as little hope to present a solid and satis-
factory view of the progressive development of the divine plan,
as if we should overlook either their fundamental agreement with
each other, or their common relation to the full manifestation
of grace and truth in the kingdom of Christ. It must be borne
in mind that the Law — the intermediate point between the fall
and redemption — had its preparation as well as the Gospel.1

4. In regard to the mode of investigation to be pursued
respecting particular types, as the first place is due to tli
which belonged to the institutions of religion, so our first care
must be, according to the principles already established, to
ascertain the views and impressions which, as parts of an

1 ."-'re this point more folly treated in my Lectures on the Revelation oj
in Scripture, Lee. ii. and iii.

234 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

existing religion, they were fitted to awaken in the ancient
worshipper. It may, of course, be impossible to say, in any
particular case, that such views and impressions were actually
derived from them, with as much precision and definiteness as
may appear in our description ; for we cannot be sure that the
requisite amount of thought and consideration was actually
addressed to the subject. But due care should be taken in
this respect, not to make the typical symbols and transactions
indicative of more than what may, with ordinary degrees of
light and grace, have been learned from them by men of faith
in Old Testament times. It is not, however, to be forgotten
that, in their peculiar circumstances, much greater insight was
attainable through such a medium, than it is quite easy for us
now to realize. At first, believers were largely dependent upon
it for their knowledge of divine truth : it was their chief talent,
and would hence be cultivated with especial care. Even after-
wards, when the sources of information were somewhat in-
creased, the disposition and capacity to learn by means of
symbolical acts and institutions, would be materially aided by
that mode of contemplation which has been wont to distinguish
the inhabitants of the East. This proceeds (to use the lan-
guage of Bahr) ' on the ground of an inseparable connection
subsisting between the spiritual and the bodily, the ideal and
the real, the seen and the unseen. According to it, the whole
actual world is nothing but the manifestation of the ideal one ;
the entire creation is not only a production, but at the same
time also an evidence and a revelation of Godhead. Nothing
real is merely dead matter, but is the form and body of some-
thing ideal ; so that the whole world, even to its very stones,
appears instinct with life, and on that account especially be-
comes a revelation of Deity, whose distinguishing characteristic
it is to have life in Himself. Such a mode of viewing things
in nature may be called emphatically the religious one ; for it
contemplates the world as a great sanctuary, the individual
parts of which are so many marks, words, and letters of a
grand revelation-book of Godhead, in which God speaks and
imparts information respecting Himself. If, therefore, that
which is seen and felt was generally regarded by men as the
immediate impression of that which is unseen, a speech and

PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 235

revelation of the invisible Godhead to them, it necessarily
follows, that if they were to have unfolded to them a con-
ception of His nature, and to have a representation given them
of what His worship properly consists in, the same language
would require to be used which God spake with them ; the
same means of representation would need to be employed
which God Himself had sanctioned — the sensible, the visible,
the external.'1

The conclusion here drawn appears to go somewhat further
than the premises fairly warrant. If the learned author had
merely said that there was a propriety or fitness in employing
the same means of outward representation, as they fell in with
the prevailing cast of thought in those among whom they were
instituted, and were thus wisely adapted to the end in view, we
should have entirely concurred in the statement. But that
such persons absolutely required to be addressed by means of
a symbolical language in matters of religion could scarcely
be admitted, without conceding that they were incapable of
handling another and more spiritual one, and that consequently
a religion of symbols must have held perpetual ascendency in
the East. Besides, it may well be questioned whether this
'peculiarly religious mode of viewing things,' as it is called,
was not, to a considerable extent, the result of a symbolical
religion already established, rather than the originating cause
of such a religion. At all events, the real necessity for the pre-
ponderating carnality and outwardness of the earlier dispen-
sations was of a different kind. It arose from the very nature
of the institutions belonging to them, as temporary substitutes
for the better and the more spiritual things of the Gospel;
rendering it necessary that symbols should then hold the place
of the coming reality. It is the capital error of Bahr's system
to give to the symbolical in religion a place higher than that
which properly belongs to it; and thus to assimilate too nearly
the Old and the New — to represent the symbolical religion of
the Old Testament as Less imperfect than it really was, and
inversely to convert the greatest reality of the New Testament
— the atoning death of Christ — into a merely symbolical repre-
sentation of the placability of Heaven to the penitent.

1 Buhr'a SymboUkf b. i. p. 24.

236 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

Bat with this partial exception to the -sentiments expressed
in the quotation above given, there can be no doubt that the
mode of contemplation and insight there described has remark-
ably distinguished the inhabitants of the East, and that it must
have peculiarly fitted them for the intelligent use of a sym-
bolical worship. They could give life and significance, in a
manner zee can but imperfectly understand, to the outward and
corporeal emblems through which their converse with God was
chiefly carried on. To reason from our own case to theirs,
would be to judge by a very false criterion. Accustomed from
our earliest years to oral and written discourse, as the medium
through which we receive our knowledge of divine truth, and
express the feelings it awakens in our bosom, we have some
difficulty in conceiving how any definite ideas could be con-
veyed on the one side or the other, where that was so sparingly
employed as the means of communication. But the ' grey
fathers of the world' were placed in other, circumstances, having
from their childhood been trained to the use of symbolical
institutions as the most expressive and appropriate channels of
divine communion. So that the native tendency first, and then
the habitual use strengthening and improving the tendency,
must have rendered them adepts, as compared with Christian
communities now, in perceiving the significance and employing
the instrumentality of religious symbols.

5. When the symbolical institutions and services of former
times shall have been explained in the manner now indicated,
the next step will be to consider in detail the import and bear-
ing of the typical transactions which took place during the con-
tinuance of each dispensation. In doing this, care will require,
in the first instance, to be taken, that the proper place be
assigned them as intended only to exhibit ideas subsidiary to
those embodied in the religion itself. And as in reading the
typical symbols, so in reading the typical transactions connected
with them, we must make the views and impressions they were
fitted to convey to those whom they immediately respected,
concerning the character and purposes of God, the ground
and measure of that higher bearing which they carried to the
coming events of the Gospel. Nor are we here again to over-
look that religious tendency and habit of mind which has been

PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 237

noticed as a general characteristic of the inhabitants of th
East; for they would certainly be disposed to do with the acts
of Providence as with the works of creation — would contemplate
them as manifestations of Godhead, or revelations in the world
of sense of what was thought and felt in the higher world of
spirit. Besides, it is to be borne in mind that the historical
transactions referred to were all special acts of Providence.
While they formed part of the current events of history, they
were at the same time so singularly planned and adjusted, that
the persons immediately concerned in them could scarcely over-
look either their direct appointment by God, or their intimate
connection with His plans and purposes of grace. It is the
hand of God Himself that ever appears to be directing the
transactions of Old Testament history. And the acts in which
lie more peculiarly discovers Himself being the operations of
()ne whose grand object, from the period of the fall, was the
foiling of the tempter and the raising up of a seed of blessing,
they could scarcely fail to be regarded by intelligent and pious
min Is as standing in a certain relation to this centre-point of
the divine economy. In proportion as the people of God had
faith to 'wait for the consolation of Israel,' they would also
have discernment to read, with a view to the better things to
come, the disclosures of His mind and will, which were inter-
woven with the history of His operations.

It is in this way we are chiefly to account for God's fre-
quent appearance on the stage of patriarchal history, and His
more direct personal agency in the affairs of His chosen people.
The things that happened to them could not otherwise have
accomplished the great ends of their appointment ; for through
these God was continually making revelation of Himself, and
bringing those who stood nearest to Him to a fuller acquaint-
ance with His character as the God of life and blessing. It
was therefore of essential moment to the object in view, that
His people should be able without hesitation to regard them as
indications of His mind — that they should not merely consider
them as His, in the g moral sense ill which it may be said that
'God is in history;' but His also in the more definite and
j iiliar a : conveying specific and pri ive discoveries

of the divine administration. How could they have been re-

238 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

cognised as such, unless the finger of God had, in some form,
laid its distinctive impress upon them ? Taking into account,
therefore, all the peculiarities belonging to the typical facts
of Old Testament history — the close relation in which they
commonly stood to the rites and institutions of a religion of
h0pe_the evident manner in which many of them bore upon
them the interposition of God, and the place occupied by others
in the announcements of prophecy, — they had quite enough to
distinguish them from the more general events of providence,
and were perfectly capable of ministering to the faith and the
just expectations of the people of God.

6. We simply note further, that when passing under review
acts and institutions of God which stretch through successive
ages and dispensations, there will necessarily recur, under some-
what different forms, substantially the same exhibitions of divine
truth. It was unavoidable but that all the more fundamental
ideas of religion, and the greater obligations connected with it,
should be the subject of many an ordinance in worship, and
many a transaction in providence. The briefest mode of treat-
ment, as it would naturally involve fewest repetitions, would be
to classify, first the primary heads of doctrine and duty, and
then arrange under them the successive exhibitions given of each
in the future enactments and dealings of God, without adhering
rigidly to the period of their appearance. But it is necessary,
even with the risk of occasional repetitions, to abide by the
historical order. For thus alone can we mark aright the course
of development, which in a work of this nature is too important
an element to be sacrificed to the fear of at times trenching on
ground that may have been partially trodden before.

CHAPTER FIRST.

THE DIVINE TRUTHS EMBODIED IN THE HISTORICAL TRANS-
ACTIONS ON WHICH THE FTB8T SYMBOLICAL RELIGION FOB
FALLEN MAN WAS BASED.

ASSDTONG our proper starting-point hero to be the fall of man
from his primeval state of integrity and bliss, — since it was that
which opened the way for the manifestation of grace and the
hope of redemption, — we are still not to throw'into abeyance
whatever belonged to the primeval state itself. For, while all
was sadly changed by the unhappy event which had taken place,
all was not absolutely lost. The knowledge which our first
parents had of the work of creation, and of the character of
< tod as therein displayed, could not altogether vanish from their
minds ; it had formed the groundwork of that adoration of
God and fellowship with Ilim which constituted the religion of
Paradise ; and even after Paradise was lust, they must still have
derived from it, and preserved in the depths of their spiritual
being, some of the more fundamental elements of truth and
duty. That all things were made by God, after the manner
•rilied in the commencing chapters of Genesis (whether in
the precise terms there used or not) ; that as they came from
His hand they were, one and all, very good ; that the work of
creation in six days was succeeded by a day of peculiar sacred-
ness and rest ; that man himself was made on the sixth day, as
the crowning-point of creation — made in the image of God, and
as such had all here below placed in a relation of subservience
to him, while, just because he bore God's image, he was bound
to use all in obedience to the will of God, and for the glory "I'
His name ; — these, and various other collateral points of know-
ledge, which must have been familiar to man before the fall, —
since otherwise he should have been ignorant alike of his proper
place and calling in creation, — could not fail to abide also with
him after it. And since it pleased God not to destroy His

240 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

fallen creature, but to perpetuate his existence on earth, and,
amid mingled experiences of good and evil, to animate him with
the prospect of ultimate recovery, it was to be understood of
itself that all creation privileges and gifts stood as at first con-
ferred, except in so far as they might be expressly recalled, or
through the altered constitution of things placed in another
relation to man than they originally held. Paradise itself, with
its ample heritage of life and blessing, had ceased to be to him
what it had been : though it was there still, and spoke as before
of good, it spoke otherwise to him. But the mutual relation of
the fallen pair themselves, the one to the other ; their common
relation to the world around them, with its living creatures and
manifold productions ; their higher relation to God, as still
bearing, though now sadly marred, His divine image, and called
to reflect it by a becoming imitation of His example ; — these all
remained in principle, only modified in action by the workings
of sin on man's part, and on God's by the introduction of an
economy of grace. In so far as there was a withdrawal of
what had been originally given, or nature's heritage of good
was supplanted by experiences of evil, it but tended to bring
home to man's bosom the salutary truths and principles which
required to enter as fundamental elements into any religion
which could be suited to his altered condition. But in so far
as the old things were allowed to remain, under altered rela-
tions or with other accompaniments than before, there was' a
linking of the past to the future, of creation to redemption —
turning the one into a pledge, or requiring it to be understood
as an image of a corresponding, though higher, good yet to be
realized.

The justice of these remarks will more distinctly appear
when we come to the consideration of the particulars. In look-
ins: at these, however, with a view to estimate aright their re-
in / / o

ligious aspect and bearing, we must keep in mind what has
already been indicated respecting the position of our first
parents, as the recent possessors of a holy nature, and the occu-
pants of an elevated moral condition. For, while they had
miserably fallen and become guilty before God, they had not
sunk into total ignorance and perversion ; and so were not dealt
with by means of rigid enactments and a minutely prescribed

TRUTHS IN HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS. 241

directory of service, but rather with such consideration and
regard as implied a recognition in them of a measure of that

capacity and intelligence which had so lately been conversant

with all that ia pure and g 1. Possessing in God's works and

ways, along with the records of their own painful experience,
the materials of knowing what concerning Him they should
believe and do, they were left by the help of these, and with
such grace as might now be expected by the penitent and
believing, to discover the path of life and blessing. It was
only as time proceeded, and dark events in providence betrayed
the deep-seated and virulent corruption which had entered into
humanity, that other ami more stringent measures were resorted
io, as well to inculcate lessons of necessary instruction, as to
enforce a becoming obedience. Meanwhile, however, and look-
ing to the conspicuous and intentional absence of these, we have
to inquire what of divine truth and principle might be involved,
first in the facts connected with the fall, then with the symbols
and institutions of worship appointed to the fallen — indicating,
as we proceed, the typical bearing which any of them might
present to the future things of redemption. The former of
these need not detain us long.

1. And what in respect to it is obviously entitled to rank
first, is the • /< f hitman guilt on,/ corruption.

From the moment of their transgression, our first parents
knew that their relation to God had become Badly altered. The
calm of their once peaceful bosoms was instantly agitated and

disturbed by tormenting fears of judgment. Nor did these

prove to be groundless alarms: they were the forerunners of a
curse which was soon thundered in their ears by the voice of
God, and written out in their exiled and blighted condition.
It was impossible for them to escape the conviction that they
Here no longer in the sight of God very good. And as their
posterity grew, and on,' generation sprung up after another,

story of the lost heritage of blessing (no doubt perpetually
repeated), and the still continued exclusion from the hallowed
region of life, must have Berved to keep up the impression that
mii had wholly corrupted the nature and marred the inherit-
ance of man.

Evidences were not long wanting to show that sin in the

VOL. I. y

2 12 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

first pair was evil in the root, which must, more or less, com-
municate itself to every branch of the human family. In the
first-born of the family it sprang at once into an ill-omened
maturity, as if to give warning of the disastrous results that
might be expected in the future history of mankind. And con-
stantly, as the well-spring of life flowed on, the stream of human
depravity swelled into a deeper and broader flood. There were
things in God's earlier procedure that were naturally fitted to
check its working, and repress its growth — especially the mild
forbearance and paternal kindness with which He treated the
first race of transgressors — the wonderful longevity granted
to them — the space left for repentance even to the greatest
sinners, while still sufficient means were employed to convince
them of their guilt and danger, — all seeming to betoken the
tender solicitude of a father yearning over his infant offspring,
and restraining for a season the curse that now rested on their
condition, if so be they might be won to His love and service.
But it was the evil, not the good, in man's nature, which took
advantage of this benign treatment on the part of God, to ripen
into strength and fruitfulness. And, ere long, the very good-
ness of God found it needful to interpose, and relieve the earth
of the mass of violence and corruption which, as in designed
contrast to the benignity of Heaven, had come to usurp posses-
sion of the world. So that, looking simply to the broad facts
of history, the doctrine of human guilt and depravity stands
forth with a melancholy prominence and intensity which could
leave no doubt concerning it upon thoughtful minds.

2. Another doctrine, which the facts of primeval history
rendered it equally impossible for thoughtful minds to gainsay
or overlook, is the righteousness of God's character and govern-
ment.

For, that mankind should have been expelled from the
region of life, and made subject to a curse which doomed them
to sorrow and trouble, disease and death, in consequence of
their violation of a single command of Heaven, was a proof
patent to all, and memorable in the annals of the world, that
everything in the divine government is subordinate to the
principles of rectitude. ' There was in it,' as was strikingly
and beautifully said by Irving, ' a most sublime act of holiness.

TRUTHS IN HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS. 21.°)

God, after making Adam a creature for an image and likeness
of Himself, did resolve him into vile dust through viler corrup-
tion, when once he had siuned ; proving that one act of sin was,
in God's siiiht, of far more account than a whole world teeming
with beautiful and blessed life, which lie would rather send
headlong into death than suffer one sin of His creature to go
unpunished. And though creation's teeming fountain might
flow on ever so lonir, still the flowing waters of created life
must ever empty themselves into the gulf of death. This is a
i • sublime exaltation of the moral above the material, show-
ing that all material beauty and blessedness of life is but, as
it were, the clothing of one good thought, which, if it become
evil, straightway all departs like the shadow of a dream.' Who
could oeiiously reflect on this — on the good that was lost, and
the inheritance of evil that came in its place — without being
solemnly impressed with the conviction, that the sceptre of God's
government is a sceptre of righteousness, and that blessing might
be expected under it only by such as love- righteousness and
hate iniquity '.

3. But if nothing more had been manifested of God in the
facts of primeval history than this — had lie appeared only as a
hteous judge ex icuting deserved condemnation on the guilty,
Adam and his fallen offspring might have been appalled and
terrified before Him, but they could not have ventured to ap-
proach Him with acts of worship. We notice, therefore, as
another truth brought out in connection with the circumstances
of the fall, and an essentially new feature in the divine charac-
ter, the exhibition of grace which was then given on the part of
I 1 to the fallen. That everything was not subjected to in-
stantaneous and overwhelming destruction, was itself a proof
of the introduction of a principle of grace into the divine
administration. The mi pite of the sentence of death

| hich, if justice alone had prevailed, must have beeD executed
on the very day of trail ion), and the establishment of an

order of things which still contained many tokens of divine
goodness, gave evidence of thoughts of mercy and loving-
kindness in God toward man. But as no vague intimations,
or even probable conclusions of reason, from the general course
of providence, could be sufficient to reassure the heart on such

244 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

a matter as this, an explicit assurance was given, that ' the seed
of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent,' — which,
however dimly understood at first, could not fail even then to
light up the conviction in the sinful heart, that it was the pur-
pose of God to aid man in obtaining a recovery from the ruin
of the fall. The serpent had been the ostensible occasion and
instrument of the fall, — the visible and living incarnation of
the evil power which betrayed man to sell his birthright of life
and blessing. And that this power should be destined to be not
only successfully withstood, but bruised in the very head by the
offspring of her over whom he had so easily prevailed, clearly
bespoke the intention of God to defeat the malice of the tempter,
and secure the final triumph of the lost.

But this, if done at all, must evidently be done in a way of
grace. All natural good had been forfeited by the fall, and
death — the utter destruction of life and blessing — had become
the common doom of humanity. Whatever inheritance, there-
fore, of good, or whatever opportunity of acquiring it, might be
again presented, could be traced to no other, source than the
divine beneficence freely granting what could never have been
claimed on the ground of merit. And as the recovery promised
necessarily implied a victory over the might and malice of the
tempter, to be won by the very victims of his artifice, how other-
wise could this be achieved than through the special interposi-
tion and grace of the Most High ? Manhood in Adam and Eve,
with every advantage on its side of a natural kind, had proved
unable to stand before the enemy, to the extent of keeping the
easiest possible command, and retaining possession of an inherit-
ance already conferred. How greatly more unable must it
have felt itself, if left unaided and alone, to work up against the
evil, and destroy the destroyer! In such a case, hope could
have found no solid footing to rest upon for the fulfilment of
the promise, excepting what it descried in the gracious intentions
and implied aid of the Promiser. And when it appeared, as the
history of the world advanced, how the evil continued to take
root and grow, so as even for a time to threaten the extermina-
tion of the good, the impression must have deepened in the
minds of the better portion of mankind, that the promised
restoration must come through the intervention of divine power

TRUTHS IN HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS 245

and goodness, — that the saved must owe their salvation to the
grace of <iod.

4. Thus far the earliest inhabitants of the world might
readily go in learning the truth of God, by simply looking to
the broad and palpable facts of history. And without supposing
them to have possessed any extraordinary reach of discernment,
they might surely be conceived capable of taking one step more
i' spectin g. the accomplishment of that salvation or recovery which
was now the object of their desire and expectation. Adam saw
— and it must have been one of the most painful reflections
which forced itself on his mind, and one, too, which subsequent
events came, not to relieve, but rather to embitter and aggravate
— lie saw how his fall carried in its bosom the fall of humanity ;
that the nature which in him had become stricken with pollution
and death, went down thus degenerate and corrupt to all his
posterity. It was plain, therefore, that the original constitution
of things was based on a principle of headship, in virtue of which
the condition of the entire race was made dependent on that of
its common parent. And the thought was not far to seek, that
the same constitution might somehow have place in connection
with the work of recovery. Indeed, it seems impossible to under-
stand how, excepting through such a principle, any distinct hope
could 1)'- cherished of the attainment of salvation. By the one
act of Adam's disobedience, he and his posterity together were
banished from the region of pure and blessed life, and made
subject to the law of sin and death. Whence, in such a case,
could deliverance come ? How could it so much as be conceived
possible, to re-open the way of life, and place the restored in-
heritance of good on a secure and satisfactory footing, except
through some second head of humanity supernaturally qualified
for tin- undertaking? A fallen head could give birth only to a
fallen offspring — so the righteousness of Heaven had decreed ;
and tip' prospect of rising again to the possession of immortal
life and blessing, seemed, by its very announcement, to call for
the institution of another head, nn fallen and yet human, through
whom the prospect might be realized. Tims only could the
divine government retain its uniformity of principle in the
altered circumstances that had occurred: and thus only might
it seem possible to have the end it proposed accomplished.

246 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

We do not suppose that the consideration of this principle of
headship, as exhibited in the case of Adam and his posterity,
could, of itself, have enabled those who lived immediately sub-
sequent to the fall, to obtain very clear or definite views in
regard to the mode of its application in the working out of
redemption. We merely suppose that, in the circumstances of
the case, there was enough to suggest to intelligent and discern-
ing minds that it should in some way have a place. But the
full understanding of the principle, and of the close harmony it
establishes between the fall and redemption, as to the descending
curse of the one and the distributive grace and glory of the
other, can be perceived only by us, whose privilege it is to look
from the end of the world to its beginnings, and to trace* the
first dawn of the Gospel to the effulgence of its meridian glory.
Even the Jewish Rabbins, who were far from occupying the
vantage-ground we have reached, could yet discern some com-
mon ground between the heritage of evil derived from Adam,
and the good to be effected by Messiah. ' The secret of
Adam,' one of them remarks, 'is the secret of the Messiah ;' and
another, { As the first man was the one that sinned, so shall the
Messiah be the one to do sin away.' l They recognised in Adam
and Christ the two heads of humanity, with whom all mankind
must be associated for evil or for good. On surer grounds, how-
ever, than lay within the ken of their apprehension, we know
that Adam was in this respect ' the type of Him that was to
come.' 2 But in this respect alone ; for in all other points we

1 See Tboluck, Comm. on Rom. v. 12.

2 Rom. v. 14. It is literally, ' type of the future one ' (tvxos tow
/u.i'h'Aoi/Tos), the other or second Adam : not, however, generally, or in his
creation state simply, for of that the apostle is not speaking, but of his
relation to an offspring whose case was involved in his own. The sentiment
of the apostle, taken in its proper connection, was quite correctly given by
Theophylact : ' For as the old Adam rendered all subject to his own fall,
though they had not fallen, so Christ justified all, though they did nothing
worthy of justification.' The apostle's authority, therefore, cannot be
fairly quoted for anything more than we have stated in the text ; and to
isolate his expression, as some do, from the subject immediately discoursed
of, and turn it into a general statement respecting a prefiguration of the
second Adam irrespective of the fall in the first, is to adduce the apostle
as a witness to a point not distinctly before him.

TRUTHS IN HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS. 217

have to think of differences, not of resemblances. The principle
that belongs to them in common, stands simply in the relation
they alike hold, the one to a fallen, the other to a restored off-
spring. The natural seed of Adam are dealt with as one with
himself, first in transgression, and then in death, the wages
of transgression. And, in like manner, the spiritual seed of
Christ are dealt with as one with Him, first in the consum-
mate right onsness lie brought in, and then in the eternal life,
which is its appointed recompense of blessing. 'As in Adam
all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive' — all, namely,
who stand connected with Christ in the economy of grace, as
they do with Adam in the economy of nature. How could
this be, but by the sin of Adam being regarded as the sin of
humanity, and the righteousness of Christ as the property of
those who by faith rest upon His name? Hence, in the fifth
chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, along with the facts which
in the two cases attest the doctrine of headship, we find the
parallel extended, so as to include also the respective grounds
out of which they spring : ' As by the offence of one, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the rijhteousncss
of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners,
so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.'

These statements of the apostle are no more than an ex-
planation of the facts of the case by connecting them with the
moral government of God ; and it is not. in the power of human
reason to give either a satisfactory view of his meaning, or a
rational account of the facts themselves, on any other ground
than this principle of headship. It has also many analogies in
the constitution of nature and the history of providence to
support it. And though, like every other peculiar doctrine of
the Gospel, it will always prove a stone of stumbling to the
natural man, it will never fail to impart peace and comfort to
the child of faith. Some degree of this he will derive from it,
even by contemplating it in its darkest side — by looking to the
inheritance of evil which it has been the occasion of transmitting
from Adam to the whole human race. For, humbling as is the
light in which it presents the natural condition of man, it still
serves to keep the soul possessed of just and elevated views of the

248 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

goodness of God. That all are naturally smitten with the leprosy
of a sore disease, is matter of painful experience, and cannot be
denied without setting aside the plainest lessons of history. But
how much deeper must have been the pain which the thought of
this awakened, and how unspeakably more pregnant should it
have appeared with fear and anxiety for the future, if the evil
could have been traced to the operation of God, and had existed
as an original and inherent element in the state and constitution
of man ! It was a great relief to the wretched bosom of the pro-
digal, and was all, indeed, that remained to keep him from the
blackness of despair, to know that it was not his father who
sent him forth into the condition of a swine-herd, and bade him
satisfy his hunger with the husks on which they fed ; a truly
consolatory thought, that these husks and that wretchedness were
not emblems of his father. And can it be less comforting for
the thoughtful mind, when awakening to the sad heritage of sin
and death, under which humanity lies burdened, to know that
this ascends no higher than the first parent of the human family,
and that, as originally settled by God, the condition of man-
kind was in all respects ' very good?' The evil is thus seen to
have been not essential, but incidental ; a root of man's planting,
not of God's ; an intrusion into Heaven's workmanship, which
Heaven may again drive out.

But a much stronger consolation is yielded by the considera-
tion of this principle of headship, when it is viewed in connection
' with the second Adam ; since it then assumes the happier aspect
of the ground-floor of redemption — the actual, and, as far as we
can perceive, the only possible foundation on which a plan of
complete recovery could have been formed. Excepting in con-
nection with this principle, we cannot imagine how a remedial
scheme could have been devised, that should have been in any
measure adequate to the necessities of the case. Taken indivi-
dually and apart, no man could have redeemed either his own
soul or the soul of a brother ; he could not in a single case have
recovered the lost good, far less have kept it in perpetuity if it
had been recovered : and either divine justice must have fore-
gone its claims, or each transgressor must have sunk under the
weight of his own guilt and helplessness. But by means of the
principle which admits of an entire offspring having the root of

TRUTHS IN HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS. 210

its condition and the ground of its destiny in a common head, a
door stood open in the divine administration for a plan of re-
covery co-extensive (hypothetically) with the work of ruin. And
unless we could have assured ourselves of an absolute and con-
tinued freedom from sin (which even angelic natures could not
do), we may well reconcile ourselves to such a principle in the
divine government as that which, for one man's transgression,
has male us partakers of a fallen condition, since in that very
principle we perceive the one channel, through which access
could be found for those who have fallen, to the peace and
safety of a rc^'-r,<l condition.

lie must know nothing aright of sin or salvation who is in-
capable of finding comfort in this view of the subject. And yet
there is a ground of comfort higher still, arising from the pro-
spect it secures for believers of a condition better and safer than
what was originally possessed by man before the fall. For the
second Adam, who, as the new head of humanity, gives the tone
and character to all that belongs to the kingdom of God, is in-
comparably greater than the first, and has received for Himself
and His redeemed an inheritance corresponding to His personal
worth and dignity. So that if the principle of which we speak
appeal--, iu the first instance, like a depressing load weighing
humanity down to the very brink of perdition, it becomes at length
a divine lever to raise it to a height far beyond what it originally
occupied, or could otherwise have had any prospect of reaching.
As the apostle graphically describes in his first Epistle to the
I linthians, 'The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second
man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such arc they
also that are earthy ; and as is the heavenly, such are they also
that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the
earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.' "What
an elevating prospect! destined to be conformed to the image of
the Son of God, and in consequence to share with Him in the
life, the blessedness, ami the glory which He inherits in the'
kingdom of the Father! Coupling, then, the end of the divine
plan with the beginning, and entering with childlike simplicity
into its arrangements, we find that the principle of headship, on

which the whole hinges for evil and for good, is really fraught
with the richest beneficence, and should call forth our admira-

250 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

tion of the manifold wisdom and goodness of God; for through
this an avenue has been laid open for us into the realms above,
and our natures have become linked in fellowship of good with
what is best and highest in the universe.

It thus appears that there were four fundamental principles
or ideas, which the historical transactions connected with the fall
served strikingly to exhibit, and which must have been incor-
porated as primary elements with the religion then introduced.
1. The doctrine of human guilt and depravity ; 2. Of the right-
eousness of God's character and government ; 3. Of grace in
God as necessary to open, and actually opening, the door of hope
for the fallen ; 4. And, finally, of a principle of headship, by
which the offspring of a common parent were associated in a
common ruin, and by which again, under a new and better con-
stitution, the heirs of blessing might be associated in a common
restoration. In these elementary principles, however, we have
rather the basis of the patriarchal religion, than the religion
itself. For this, we must look to the svmbols and institutions of
worship. And, as far as appears from the records of that early
time, the materials out of which these had at first to be fashioned
were : The position assigned to man in respect to the tree of life,
the placing before him of the cherubim and the flaming sword
at the east of Eden, the covering of his guilt by the sacrifice of
animal life, and his still subsisting relation to the day of rest
originally hallowed and blessed by God. To this last may be
added the marriage-relationship ; for here also the general
principle holds, that no formal change was introduced after the
fall, and what was done at the first was virtually done for all
times. But there still was a perceptible difference between the
institution of marriage and the other things mentioned, viewed
with respect to the matters now more immediately under con-
sideration. This will be explained in the sequel ; at present it
is enouoh to state, that while we do not exclude marriage from
our point of view, neither do we assign it exactly the same place
as the other ordinances of primeval times.

CIIArTER SECOND.

THE TREE OF LIFE.

The first mention made of the tree of life has respect to its
place and use, as part of the original constitution of things, in
which all presented the aspect of relative perfection and com-
pleteness. 'Out of the ground,' it is said, 'made the Lord
God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good
for food ; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.' The special notice
taken of these two trees plainly indicates their singular and pre-
eminent importance in the economy of the primeval world; but
in different respects. The design of the tree of knowledge was
entirely moral : it was set there as the test and instrument of
probation ; and its disuse, if we may so speak, was its only
allowable use. The tree of life, however, had its natural use,
like the other trees of the garden ; and both from its name, and
from its position in the centre of the garden, we may infer that
the effect of its fruit upon the human frame was designed to be
altogether peculiar. But this comes out more distinctly in the
next notice we have of it — when, from being simply an ordi-
nance of nature, it passed into a symbol of grace. 'And the
Lord (Jed said, Behold the man is become as one of us, to know

1 and evil; and now lest he put forth his hand, and take
also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever ; therefore the
Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the
ground, from whence he was taken. So lie drove out the man ;
and lb placed at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubim,
and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way
of the tree of life.'

These words seem plainly to indicate that the tree of life
was originally intended for the food of man ; that the fruit it
yielded was the divinely appointed medium of maintaining in
him the [tower of an endless life; and that now, since he had

251

252 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

sinned against God, and bad lost all right to the possession of
such a power, he was debarred from access to the natural means
of sustaining it, by being himself rigorously excluded from the
garden of Eden. What might be the peculiar properties of
that tree — whether in its own nature it differed essentially from
the other trees of the garden, or differed only by a kind of
sacramental efficacy attached to it — is not distinctly stated, and
can be matter only of conjecture or of probable inference.
But in its relation to man's frame, there apparently was this
difference between it and the other trees, that while they might
contribute to his daily support, it alone could preserve in unde-
caying vigour a being to be supported. In accordance with its
position in the centre of the garden, it possessed the singular
virtue of ministering to human life in the fountainhead, while
the other trees could only furnish what was needed for the
exercise of its existing functions. TJiey might have kept nature
alive for a time, as the fruits of the earth, do still ; but to it
belonged the property of fortifying the vital powers of nature
against the injuries of disease and the dissolution of death.1

It was a great thing for man that he could thus read so
clearly his original destination to immortality. He knew that

1 I have given here only -what seems to be the fair and the general
import of what is written in Genesis respecting the tree of life ; but have
avoided any deliverance on the much disputed point, whether by inherent
virtue, or by a kind of sacramental efficacy, the fruit of this tree was in-
tended to produce its life-giving influence upon man. The great majority
of Protestant divines incline to the latter view ; although it must be allowed,
the idea of a sacramental virtue in a natural constitution of things seems
somewhat out of place, and cannot very easily be distinguished from the
Catholic view, which holds certain things to have been supernaturally con-
ferred on Adam, and others to have belonged to him by natural constitution.
But the subject, with reference to that specific question, is one on which
we want materials for properly deciding, and regarding which opinions
are almost sure to differ in the future, as they have done in the past. We
could not well have a clearer proof of this, than is afforded by two of the
latest commentators on Genesis — two also, who are so generally agreed in
sentiment, that they are engaged together in producing a commentary on
the entire books of the Old Testament — Delitzsch and Keil. The former is
of opinion that the passage, Gen. iii. 22, distinctly intimates that the tree
in question had 'the power of life in itself,' 'a power of perpetually re-
newing and gradually transforming the natural life of man ' (Comm. iiber

THE TREE OF LIFE. 253

if lie had remained stedfast in his allegiance to God, abiding
in the order appointed for him, he should have continued to
possess life in incorrupt purity and blessedness, possibly also
might have been conscious of a growing enlargement and ele-
vation in its powers and functions. But choosing the perilous
course of transgression, he forfeited his inheritance of life, and
became subject to the threatened penalty of death. The tree
of life, however, did not lose its life-sustaining virtue, because
the condition on which man's right to partake of it had been
violated. It remained what God originally made it. And
though effectual precautions must now be taken to guard its
sacred treasure from the touch of polluted hands, yet there it
still remained in the centre of the garden, the object of fond
aspirations as well as hallowed recollections — though enshrined
in a sacredness which rendered it for the present inaccessible
to fallen man. Why should its place have been so carefully
preserved? and the symbols of worship, the emblems of fear
and hope, planted in the very way that led to it? Why but to
intimate, that the privilege of partaking of its immortal fruit
was only for a season withheld — not finally withdrawn — wait-
ing till a riiihteousness should be brought in, which mhdit

die i ]». 164, l'.'l. lM ed.). Ami from this he draws the inference that

tlic fruit of the tree of knowled i had the power of death in itself,

r< ndering tin- participation of it deadly. [Ceil, however, is equally decided
on tip- other side; he says. ' We mn-i oot Bees the power of the tree of
lite iii the physical property of its fruit. No earthly fruit possesses the
power of rendering immortal the life, to the support of which it ministers.
Life has its root, not in the corporeity of man, Inn in his spiritual nature,
in which it finds its stability and continuance, as will as its origin. The
body formed of the dust of earth could not, as such, be immortal ; it
must either again return to earth and become dust, or through the Spirit
be transformed into the immortal nature of the soul. The power is of a
Bpiritual kind which can transfuse immortality into the bodily frame. It
Id have been imparted to the earthly tree, or its fruit, only through
a special operation of Grod's word, through an agency which we can no
otherwise represent to ourselves than as of a sacramental nature, whereby
■ inhly elements are con crated to become vessels and bearers of super-
natural powers1 {Bib. Comm. ttber du Backer Moses, i. p. 45). That such
is tie- case now, there can be no doulu ; but it may he questioned whether
it does not proceed on too close an assimilation of matters in the primeval,
to those of tiie existing, state of things.

254 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

again open the way to Its blessed provisions. For as tlie loss
of righteousness had shut up the way, it was manifest that only
by the possession of righteousness could a fresh access to the
forfeited boon be regained. And hence it became, as we shall
see, one of the leading objects of God's administration, to dis-
close the necessity and unfold the nature and conditions of such
a work of righteousness as might be adequate to so important
an end. The relation man now occupied to the tree of life could
of itself furnish no information on this point. It could only
indicate that the inheritance of immortal life was still reserved
for him, on the supposition of a true and proper righteousness
being attained. So that, in this primary symbolical ordinance,
the hope which had been awakened in his bosom by the first
promise, assumed the pleasing aspect of a return to the enjoy-
ment of that immortal life from whiclyon account of sin, he
was appointed to suffer a temporary exclusion.

But, coupled as this hope was with the present existence of
a fallen condition, and the certainty of a speedy return for the
body to the dust of death, it of necessity carried along with it
the expectation of a future state of being, and of a resurrection
from the dead. The prospect of a deliverance from evil, and
of a restored immortality of life and blessing, was not to be
immediately realized. The now forbidden tree of life was to
continue unapproachable, so long as men bore about with them
the body of sin and death. They could find the way of life
only through the charnel-house of the grave. And it had been
a mocking of their best feelings and aspirations, to have held
out to them the promise of a victory over the tempter, or to
have embodied that promise in a new direction of their hopes
toward the tree of life, if there had not been couched under it
the assured prospect of a life out of death. In truth, religious
faith and hope could not have taken form and being in the
bosom of fallen men, excepting on the ground of such an anti-
cipated futurity. Nor were there long wanting events in the
history of divine providence which would naturally tend to
strengthen, in thoughtful and considerate minds, this hopeful
anticipation of a future existence. The untimely death of
Abel, and the translation of Enoch in the mid-time of his days,
must especially have wrought in this direction ; since, viewed

THE TREE OF LIFE. 255

in connection with the whole circumstances of the time, they
could scarcely fail to produce the impression, that not only was
the real inheritance of blessing to be looked for in a scene of
existence beyond the present, but that the clearest title to this
might be conjoined with a comparatively brief and contracted
portion of good on earth. Such facts, read in the light of the
promise, that the destroyer was yet to be destroyed, and a path-
way opened to the lost for partaking anew of the food of im-
mortality, could lead to hut one conclusion — that the good to

inherited by the heirs of promise necessarily involved a state
of life and blessing after this. "We find the later Jews — not-
withstanding their false views respecting the Messiah — indi-
cating in their comments some knowledge of the truth thus
signified to the first race of worshippers by their relation to the
tree of life. For, of the seven things which they imagined the
Messiah should show to Israel, two were, the garden of Eden
and the tree of life ; and again, 'There are also that say of the
tree of life, that it was not created in vain, but the men of the
resurrection shall eat thereof, and live for ever.'1 These were
hut the glimmerings of light obtained by men who had to grope
their way amid judicial blindness and the misguiding influence
of hereditary delusions. Adam and his immediate offspring
were in happier circumstances for the discernment of the truth
now under consideration. And unless the promise of recovery

lained absolutely a dead letter to them, and nothing was
learned from their symbolical and expectant relationship to the
tree of life (a thing scarcely possible in the circumstances),
there must have been cherished in their minds the conviction
of a life after death, and the hope of a deliverance from its
corruption. Religion at the very first rooted itself in the belief
of immortality."

So much for what the things connected with the tree of
life imported to those whom they more immediately I d.

Let us glance for a little to the fuller insight afforded into
them for such as possess the later revelations of Scripture.
1 To-day,' said Jesus on the cross to the penitent malefactor,
' to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise' — showing how con-

1 R. Eliaa ben Mosis, and W. Bfenahem, in Ainsworth on Gen. iii-

1 ice farther at beginning of eh. vi. § 0.

256 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

fidently He regarded death as the way to victory, and how
completely He was going to bruise the head of the tempter,
since He was now to make good for Himself and His people a
return to the region of bliss, which that tempter had been the
occasion of alienating. ' To him that overcometh,' says the
same Jesus, after having entered on His glory, ' will I give to
eat of the tree of life, that is in the midst of the paradise of
God.' And again, ' Blessed are they that do His command-
ments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may
enter in through the gates into the city.' — (Rev. ii. 7, xxii. 14.)
The least we can gather from such declarations is, that every-
thing which was lost in Adam, shall be again recovered in
Christ for the heirs of His salvation. The far distant ends of
revelation are seen embracing each other ; and the last look we
obtain into the workmanship of God corresponds with the first,
as face answers to face. The same God of love and beneficence
who was the beginning, proves Himself to. be also the ending.
It is the intermediate portion alone which seems less properly
to hold of Him — being in so many respects marred with evil,
and chequered with adversity to the members of His family.
There, indeed, we see much that is unlike God — His once beau-
tiful workmanship defaced — the comely order of His govern-
ment disturbed — the world He had destined for 'the house
of the glory of His kingdom,' rendered the theatre of a fierce
and incessant warfare between the elements of good and evil,
in which the better part is too often put to the worse — and
humanity, which He had made to be an image of Himself,
smitten in all its members with the wound of a sore disease,
beset when living with numberless calamities, and becoming,
when dead, the prey of its most vile and loathsome adversaries.
How cheering to know that this unhappy state of disorder and
confusion is not to be perpetual — that it occupies but the mid-
region of time — and is destined to be supplanted in the final
issues of providence by the restitution of all things to their
original harmony and blessedness of life ! The tempter has
prevailed long, but, God be thanked, he is not to prevail for
ever. There is yet to come forth from the world, which he has
filled with his works of evil, new heavens and a new earth,
where righteousness shall dwell — another paradise with its tree

THE TREE OF LIFE. 257

of life — and a ransomed people created anew after the image of
God, and fitted for the high destiny of manifesting His glory
before the universe.

But great as this is, it is not the whole. The antitype is
always higher than the type ; and the work of grace transcends
in excellence and glory the work of nature. When, therefore,
we are told of a new creation, with its tree of life, and its para-
disiacal delights yet to be enjoyed by the people of God, much
more i> actually promised than the simple recovery of what was
lost by sin. There will be a sphere and condition of being
similar in kind, but, in the nature of the things belonging to it,
immensely higher and better than what was originally set up
by the hand of God. The same adaptation, however, that
existeil in the old creation between the nature of the region
and the frames of its inhabitants, shall exist also in the new.
And as the occupants here shall be the second Adam and His
seed — the Lord from heaven, in whom humanity has been
raised to peerless majesty and splendour — there must also be a
corresponding rise in the nature of the things to be occupied.
A higher Bphere of action and enjoyment shall be brought in,
because there is a higher style of being to possess it. There
shall not be the laying anew of earth's old foundations, but
rather the raising of these aloft to a nobler elevation — not.
nature revived merely, but nature glorified — humanity, no
longer as it was in the earthy and natural man, but as it is and

i- shall be in the spiritual and heavenly, and that placed in
a theatre of lil\- and blessing every way suitable to its exalted
condition.

Such being the case, it will readily be understood, that the
promise, symbolically exhibited in the Old, and distinctly ex-
pressed in New Testament Scripture, of a return to paradise and
its tree of life, is not to be taken literally. The dim shadow only,
not the very image of the good to be possessed, is presented under
this imperfect form. And we are no more to think of an actual
tree, such as that which originally stood in the centre of Eden,
than of actual manna, or of a material crown, which are, in like
manner, promise, I to the faithful. These, and many similar

representations found respecting the world to come, aw but a
figurative employment of the best in the past or present state

\<>L. I. K

258 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

of things, to aid the mind in conceiving of the future ; as thus
alone can it attain to any clear or distinct conception of them.
Yet while all are figurative, they have still a definite and intel-
ligible meaning. And when the assurance is given to sincere
believers, not only of a paradise for their abode, but also of a tree
of life for their participation, they are thereby certified of all
that may be needed for the perpetual refreshment and support
of their glorified natures. These shall certainly require no such
carnal sustenance as was provided for Adam in Eden; they shall
be cast in another mould. But as they shall still be material
frameworks, they must have a certain dependence on the material
elements around them for the possession of a healthful and
blessed existence. The internal and the external, the personal
and the relative, shall be in harmonious and fitting adjustment to
each other. All hunger shall be satisfied, and all thirst for ever
quenched. The inhabitant shall never say, ' I am sick.' And
like the river itself, which flows in perennial fulness from the
throne of God, the well-spring of life in the redeemed shall never
know interruption or decay. Blessed, then, it may be truly said,
are those who do the commandments of God, that they may have
right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into
the city. What can a doomed and fleeting world afford in
comparison of such a prospect %

CHAPTER THIRD.
TIIK CHERUBIM (and the flaming sword).

The truths symbolized by man's new relation to the tree of life
have still to be viewed in connection with the means appointed
by God to fence the way of approach to it, and the creaturely
forms that were now planted on its borders. 'And the Lord
God,' it is said, 'placed at the east of the garden of Eden
cherubim, and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep
the way of the tree of life.' We can easily imagine that the
sword, with its flaming brightness and revolving movements,
might be suspended there simply as the emblem of God's aveng-
ing justice, and as the instrument of man's exclusion from the
region of life. In that one service the end of its appointment
might be fulfilled, and its symbolical meaning exhausted. Such,
indeed, appears to have been the case. But the cherubim, which
also had a place assigned them toward the east of the garden,
must have had some further use, as the sword alone would have
been sufficient to prevent access to the forbidden region. The
cherubim must have been added for the purpose of rendering
more complete the instruction intended to be conveyed to man
by means of the symbolical apparatus here presented to his con-
templation. And as these cherubic figures hold an important
place also in subsequent revelations, we shall here enter into a
somewhat minute and careful investigation of the subject.

There is nothing to be expected here from etymological re-
searches. Many derivations and meanings have been ascribed
to the term cherub: but nothing certain has been established

-inling it; and it may now be confidently assigned to that

iss of words, whose original import is involved in hopeless
obscurity.1 In the passage of Genesis above cited, where the

1 Hofmann has lately revived the notion, that 3H3 (cheruh) is simply
3iDi (chariot), with a not uhihu.i1 transposition of letters; and conceives the

10 to have been gives to the cherubim ou accouut of their being cm-

20'J

2 GO THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

word first occurs, not only is no clue given in regard to the
meaning of the name, but there is not even any description pre-
sented of the objects it denoted ; they are spoken of as definite
forms or existences, of which the name alone afforded sufficient
indication. This will appear more clearly if we adhere to the
exact rendering : ' And He placed (or, made to dwell) at the
east of the garden of Eden the cherubim ' — not certain unknown
figures or imaginary existences, but the specific forms of being,
familiarly designated'by that name.

In other parts of Scripture, however, the defect is in great
measure supplied ; and by comparing the different statements
there contained with each other, and putting the whole together,
we may at least approximate, if not absolutely arrive at, a full
and satisfactory knowledge of the symbol.

But in ascertaining the sense of Scripture on the subject,
there are two considerations which ought to be borne in mind,
as a necessary check on extreme or fanciful deductions. The
first is, that in this, as well as in other religious symbols (those,
for example, connected with food and sacrifice), there may
have been, and most probably was, a progression in the use
made of it from time to time. In that case, the representa-
tions employed at one period must have been so constructed as
to convey a fuller meaning than those employed at another.
Whatever aspects of divine truth, therefore, may be discovered
in the later passages which treat of the cherubim, should not,
as a matter of course, be ascribed in all their entireness to the
earlier. Respect must always be had to the relative differences
of place and time. Another consideration is, that whatever
room there may be for diversity in the way now specified, we
must not allow any representation that may be given in one
place — any specific representation — to impose a generic mean-
ployed as the chariot or throne of Jehovah ( Weissagung und Erfidlung, i.
p. 80). Delitzsch, too, is not disinclined to this derivation and meaning,
though he would rather derive the term from 313 (to lay hold of), and
understands it of the cherubim as laying hold of and bearing away the
throne of Jehovah {Die Genesis Ausgelegt, p. 46). Thenius in his Comm.
on Kings also adopts this derivation, but applies it differently. Both deri-
vations, and the ideas respecting the cherubim they are intended to support,
are quite conjectural.

THE CHERUBIM. 261

ing on the symbol, which is not borne out, but possibly con-
tradicted, by representations in others. Progressive differences

can only affect what is circumstantial, not what is essential
to the subject ; and all that is properly fundamental in the
cherubic imagery, must be found in accordance, not with a
part merely, but with the whole of the evidence contained in
Scripture regarding it.

With those guiding principles in our eye, we proceed to
exhibit what may be collected from the different notices of
Scripture on the subject — ranging our remarks under the fol-
lowing natural divisions: the descriptions given of the cherubim
as to form and appearance, the designations applied to them,
the positions assigned them, and the kinds of agency with
which they are associated.

1. In regard to the first of these points — the description*
a of tin- cherubim as to form an<l appearance — there is
nothing very definite in the earlier Scriptures, nor are the
accounts in the later perfectly uniform. Even in the detailed
narrative of Exodus respecting the furniture of the tabernacle,
it is still taken for granted, that the forms of the cherubim
were familiarly known ; and we are told nothing concerning
their structure, besides its being incidentally stated that they
had faces and wings.1 It would Seem, however, that while
a rtain elements were always understood to enter into the com-
position of the cherub, the form given to it was not absolutely
fixed, but admitted of certain variations. The cherubim seen
by Ezekiel beneath the throne of God, are represented as
lining each four faces and four wings;-' while in the descrip-
tion subsequently given by him of the cherubic representations
on the walls of his ideal temple,8 mention is made of only two
faces appealing in each. In Revelation,4 again, while four
composite forms, as in Ezekiel, are adhered to throughout, the
creatures are represented as not having each four faces, but
having each a face after one of the four types; and the number
of wings belonging to each is also different — not four, but six.''

1 Ex. xxv., xxxvii. I i k. i. <'>.

Ezek xli. is. 19. •» Rev. i\. 7

Vitringa justly remarks as ♦<> thi difference between St. John's re-
pri 'i and EzekkTs respecting the {aces, that ' it is not of essential

2G2 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

In the Apocalyptic vision the creatures themselves appear full
of eyes, before and behind, as they do also in Ezek. x. 12,
where ' their whole flesh, and their backs, and their hands,
and their wings,' are said to have been full of eyes ; but in
Ezekiel's first vision, the eyes were confined only to the wheels
connected with the cherubim.1 It is impossible, therefore,
without doing violence to the accounts given in the several
delineations, to avoid the conviction that a certain latitude was
allowed in regard to the particular forms ; and that, as exhibited
in vision at least, they were not altogether uniform in appear-
ance. They ivere uniform, however, in two leading respects,
which may hence be regarded as the more important elements
in the cherubic form. They had, first, the predominating
appearance of a man — a man's body and gesture — as is evi-
dent, first, from their erect posture ; then, from the notice in
Ezek. i. 5, ' they had the appearance of a man ;' and also from
the peculiar expression in Ilev. iv. 7, where it is said of the
third, ' that it had a face as a man ' — which is best understood
to mean, that while the other creatures were unlike man in the
face, though like in the body, this was like in the face as well.
The same inference is still further deducible from the part
taken by the cherubim in the Apocalypse, along with the
elders and the redeemed generally, in celebrating the praise of
God. The other point of agreement is, that in all the descrip-
tions actually given, the cherubim have a composite appearance
— with the form of a man, indeed, predominating, but with
other animal forms combined — those, namely, of the lion, the
ox, and the eagle.

Now, there can be no doubt that these three creatures,
along with man, make up together, according to the estimation
of a remote antiquity, the most perfect forms of animal exist-
ence. They belong to those departments of the visible crea-
tion which constitute the first in rank and importance of its
three kingdoms — the kingdom of animal life. And in that

moment ; for the beasts most intimately connected together form, as it
were, one beast-existence, and it is a matter of indifference whether all
the properties are represented as belonging to each of the four, or singly
to each.'

1 Ezek. i. 18.

THE CHERUBIM. 2C3

kingdom they belong to the highest class — to that which pos-
sesses warm blood and physical life in its fullest development.
Nay, in that highest class they are again the highest ; for tin-
ox in ancient times was placed above the horse, on account of
his fitness for useful and patient labour in the operations of
husbandry. And hence the old Jewish proverb: 'Four are
the highest in the world — the lion anions wild beasts, the ox
among tame cattle, the eagle among birds, man among all
(creatures) ; but God is supreme over all.' The meaning is,
that in these four kinds are exhibited the highest forms of
creature-life on earth, but that God is still infinitely exalted
above these; since all creature-life springs out of His fulness,
and is dependent on His hand. So that a creature com-
pounded of all these — bearing in its general shape and structure
the lineaments of a man, but associating with the human the
appearance and properties also of the three next highest orders
of animal existence — might seem a kind of concrete manifesta-
tion of created life on earth — a sort of personified creati.re-
hood.

Hut the thought naturally occurs, why thus strangely amal-
gamated and combined? If the object had been simply to
afford a representation of creaturely existence in general by
means of its higher forms, we would naturally have expected
them to stand apart as the}' actually appear in nature. But
instead of this they arc thrown into one representation ; and
so, indeed, that however the representation may vary, still the
inferior forms of animal life constantly appear as grafted upon,
and clustering around, the organism of man. There is thus a
striking unity in the diversity — a human ground and body, so
to speak — in the grouped figures of the representation, which
could not fail to attract the notice of a contemplative mind,
and must have been designed to form an essential element in
the symbolical representation. It is an ideal combination ;
no such composite creature as the cherub exists in the actual
world ; and we can think of no reason why the singular com-
bination it presents of animal forms, should have been set upon
that of man as the trunk and centre of the whole, unless it,
were to exhibit the higher elements of humanity in some kind
of organic connection with certain distinctive properties of the

2G4 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

inferior creation. The nature of man is incomparably the
highest upon earth, and towers loftily above all the rest by
powers peculiar to itself. And yet we can easily conceive how
this very nature of man might be greatly raised and ennobled,
by having superadded to its own inherent qualities those of
which the other animal forms now before us stand as the ap-
propriate types.

Thus the lion among ancient nations generally, and in par-
ticular among the Hebrews, was the representative of king-like
majesty and peerless strength. All the beasts of the field stand
in awe of him, none being able to cope with him in might ; and
his roar strikes terror wherever it is heard. Hence the lion is
naturally regarded as the king of the forest, where might is the
sole ground of authority and rule. And hence, also, lions were
placed both at the right and left of Solomon's throne, as sym-
bols of royal majesty and supreme power. — As the lion among
quadrupeds, so the eagle is king among birds, and stands pre-
eminent in the two properties that more peculiarly distinguish
the winged creation — those of vision and flight. The term eagle-
eyed has been quite proverbial in every age. The eagle perceives
his prey from the loftiest elevation, where he himself appears
scarcely discernible ; and it has even been believed that he can
descry the smallest fish in the sea, and look with undazzled gaze
upon the sun. His power of wing, however, is still more re-
markable : no bird can fly either so high or so far. Moving
with king-like freedom and velocity through the loftiest regions
and the most extended space, we naturally think of him as the
fittest image of something like angelic nimbleness of action. It
is this more especially which is symbolically associated with the
eagle in Scripture. While only one passing reference is made
there to the eagle's strength of vision,1 there is very frequent
allusion to his extraordinary power of flight.2 And hence, too,
in Rev. iv. 7, the epithet flying is attached to the eagle, to indi-
cate that this is the quality specially made account of. — Finally,
the ox was among the ancients the common image of patient
labour and productive energy. It naturally came to bear this
signification from its early use in the operations of husbandry —

1 Job xxxix. 29.

2 Deut. xxviii. 49 ; Job ix. 2G ; Prov. xxiii. 5 ; Hab. i. 8, etc.

THE CHERUBIM. 265

hi ploughing ami harrowing the ground, then bearing home the
sheaves, and at last treading out the corn. On this account the
bovine form was so frequently chosen, especially in agricultural
countries like Egypt, as the most appropriate symbol of Deity
in its inexhaustible productiveness. And if associated with man,
the idea would instinctively suggest itself of patient labour and
productive energy in working.

Such, then, not by any conjectural hypothesis or strained
interpretations, but by the simplest reading of the descriptions
given in the Bible, appear to have been the generic form and
idea of the cherubim. It is absolutely necessary that we should
apply the light furnished by those passages in which they are

•liln.d, to those also in which they are not ; and that what are
expressly named and described as the cherubim, when seen in
prophetic vision, must be regarded as substantially agreeing with
those which had a visible appearance and a local habitation on
earth — for, otherwise, the subject would be involved by Scripture
itself in inextricable confusion. Assuming these points, we are
warranted to think of the cherubim, wherever they are men-
tioned, as presenting in their composite structure, and having as
the very basis of that structure, the form of man — the only being
on earth that is possessed of a rational and moral nature; yet
combining, along with this, and organically uniting to it, the
animal representatives of majesty and strength, winged velocity,
patient and productive labonr. Why united ami combined thus,
tiie mere descriptions of the cherubic appearances give no inti-
mation ; we must search for information concerning it in the
Other points that remain to be considered. So far, we have been
simply putting together the different features of the descriptions,
and viewing the cherubic figures in their individual character-
istics and relative bearing.1

1 Hengstenberg, in his remarks on Rev. iv. 7, regarding tin' cherubim
as simple representations of the animal creation on earth, objects to any
symbolical meaning being attached to tie separate animal forma, <>n ;

tmd, thai in that passage of Revelation it is the <;il/\ not tin' ox,
which is mentioned in the description — as it is also found once in the de-
scription of Ezekiel, ch. i. 7. He thinks this cannot be accidental, hut must

have 1 n designed to prevent our attributing to it the symbolical meaning

oi productiveness, or such like; as no one would think of associating that
ld< a with a calf. We ait- surprised at so weak an objection from BUCh a

2GG THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

2. We named, as our second point of inquiry, the designa-
tions applied to the cherubim in Scripture. The term cherubim
itself being the more common and specific of these, would
naturally call for consideration first, if any certain key could
be found to its correct import. But this we have already
assigned to the class of things over which a hopeless Obscurity
now hangs. There is another designation, however, originally
applied to them by Ezekiel, and the sole designation given to
them in the Apocalypse, from which some additional light may
be derived. This expression is in the original nisn? animantia,
living ones, or living creatures. The Septuagint uses the quite
synonymous term £wa ; and this, again, is the word uniformly
employed by St. John, when speaking of the cherubim. It has
been unhappily rendered by our translators beasts in the Revela-
tion ; thus incongruously associating with the immediate presence
and throne of God mere animal existences, and identifying in
name the most exalted creaturely forms of being in the heavenly
places, with the grovelling symbolical head of the antichristian
and ungodly powers of the world. This is what bears, in the
Apocalypse, the distinctive name of the beast (Orjpiov) ; and the
name should never have been applied to the ideal creatures,
which derive their distinctive appellation from the fulness of
life belonging to them — the living ones. The frequency with
which this name is used of the cherubim is remarkable. In
Ezekiel and the Apocalypse together it occurs nearly thirty
times, and may consequently be regarded as peculiarly expres-
sive of the symbolical character of the cherubim. It presents
them to our view as exhibiting the property of life in its highest

quarter. There can be no doubt — and it is not only admitted but contended
for by Hengstenberg himself in his Beitrage, i. p. 161 sq. — that in connec-
tion with that symbolical meaning the ox-worship of Egypt was erected,
and from Egypt was introduced among the Israelites at Sinai, and again by
Jeroboam at a later period. Yet in Scripture it is always spoken of, not
as ox, or bull, or cow. but as calf-worship. This conclusively shows that,
symbolically viewed, no distinction was made between ox and calf. And in
the description of such figures as the cherubim, calf might very naturally be
substituted for ox, simply on account of the smaller and more delicate out-
line which the form would present. It is possible the same appearance may
partly have contributed to the idols at Bethel and Dan being designated
calves rather than oxen.

THE CHERUBIM. 207

state of power and activity; therefore, as creatures altogether
instinct with life. And the idea thus conveyed by the name is
further substantiated by one or two traits associated with them
in Ezekiel and the Apocalypse. Such, especially, is the very
singular multiplicity of eyes attached to them, appearing first in
the mystic wheels that regulated their movements, and after-
wards in the cherubic forms themselves. For the eye is the
Bymhol of intelligent life; the living spirit's most peculiar organ
and index. And to represent the cherubim as so strangely re-
plenished with eyes, could only be intended to make them known
to us as wholly inspirited. Accordingly, in the first vision of
Ezekiel, in which the eyes belonged immediately to the wheels,
' the spirit of the living creatures' is -aid to have been in the
wheels ; l where the eye was, there also was the intelligent,
thinking, directive spirit of life. Another and quite similar
trait, is the quick and restless activity ascribed to them by both
writers — by Ezekiel, when he represents them as ' running and
returning' with lightning speed; and by St. John, when he
cribes them as ' resting not day or night.' Incessant motion
is one of the most obvious symptoms of a plenitude of life. We
instinctively associate the property of life even with the inani-
mate things that exhibit motion — such as fountains and running
streams, which are called living, in contradistinction to stagnant

j Is that seem dead in comparison. And in the Hebrew

tongue, these two symbols of life — eyes ami fountains — have
their common symbolical meaning marked by the employment
of the same term to denote them both ("!'). So that creatures
which appeared to be all eyes and all motion, are, in plain
terms, those in which the powers and properties of life were
quite peculiarly displayed.

We believe there is a still further designation applied to the
Bame objects in Scripture — the seraphim of Isaiah." It is in
the highest degree improbable that the prophet should by that
name, SO abruptly introduced, have pointed to an order of exist-
ences, or a form of being, nowhere else mentioned in Scripture ;
but quite natural that he should have referred to the cherubim
in the sanctuary, as the scene of the vision lay there; and the
mure especially as three characteristics — the possession by each
1 K/ k. i. 20. ■ Isa. vi.

268 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

of six wings, the position of immediate proximity to the throne
of God, and the threefold proclamation of Jehovah's holiness —
are those also which reappear again, at the very outset, in St.
John's description of the cherubim. That they should have
been called by the name of seraphim (burning ones) is no way
inconsistent with this idea, for it merely embodies in a designa-
tion the thought symbolized in the vizion of Ezekiel under the
appearance of fire, giving forth flashes of lightning, which
appeared to stream from the cherubim.1 In both alike, the fire,
whether connected with the name or the appearance, denoted
the wrath, which was the most prominent feature in the divine
manifestation at the time. But as, in thus identifying the
cherubim with the seraphim, we tread on somewhat doubtful
ground, we shall make no further use of the thoughts suggested

n 7 O DO

by it.

It is right to notice, however, that the designation we have
more particularly considered, and the emblematic representa-
tions illustrative of it, belong to the later portions of Scripture,
which treat of the cherubim ; and while we cannot but regard
the idea thus exhibited, as essentially connected with the che-
rubic form of being, a fundamental element in its meaning,
it certainly could not be by any means so vividly displayed in
the cherubim of the tabernacle, which were stationary figures.
Nor can we tell distinctly how it stood in this respect with the
cherubim of Eden ; we know not what precise form and attitude
were borne by them. But not only the representations we have
been considering — the analogy also of the cherubim in the
tabernacle, with their outstretched wings, as in the act of
flying, and their eyes intently directed toward the mercy-seat,
as if they were actually beholding and pondering what was
there exhibited, may justly lead us to infer, that in some way
or another a life-like appearance was also presented by the
cherubim of Eden. Absolutely motionless or dead-like forms
would have been peculiarly out of place in the way to the tree
of life. Yet of what sort this fulness of life might be which
was exhibited in the cherubim, we have still had no clear in-
dication. From various things that have pressed themselves on
our notice, it might not doubtfully have been inferred to be life

1 Ezek. i. 13.

THE CHERUBIM. 2G9

iii the highest sense — life spiritual and divine. But this comes
out more prominently in connection with the other aspects of
the subject which remain to be contemplated.

3. We proceed, therefore, to the point next in order — the
position* assigned (o the cherubim in Scripture, These are
properly but two, and, by having regard only to what is essen-
tial in the matter, they might possibly be reduced to one. But
as they ostensibly and locally differ, we shall treat them apart.
They are the garden of Eden, and the dwelling-place or throne
of God in the tabernacle.

The first local residence in which the cherubim appear, was
the garden of Eden — the earthly paradise. What, however,
was this but the proper home and habitation of life? of life
generally, but emphatically of the divine life? Everything
there seemed to breathe the air, and to exhibit the fresh and
blooming aspect of life. Streams of water ran through it to
supply all its productions with nourishment, and keep them in
perpetual healthfulness ; multitudes of living creatures roamed
amid its bowers, and the tree of life, at once the emblem and
the seal of immortality, rose in the centre, as if to shed a vivify-
ing influence over the entire domain. Most fitly was it called
by the Rabbins, 'the land of life.' But it was life, we soon
perceive, in the higher sense — life, not merely as opposed to
bodily decay and dissolution, but as opposed also to sin, which
brings death to the soul. Eden was the garden of delight,
which God gave to man as the image of Himself, the possessor
of that spiritual and holy life which has its fountainhead in

1. And the moment man ceased to fulfil the part required
of Him as such, and yielded himself to the service of un-
righteousness, he lost his heritage of blessing, and was driven
forth, as an heir of mortality and corruption, from the hallowed
region of life. When, therefore, the cherubim were set in the
garden to occupy the place which man had forfeited by his
transgression, it was impossible but that they should be re-
garded as the representatives, not of life merely, but of the life
that is in (Jod, and in connection with which evil cannot dwell.
This they were by their very position within the Bacred terri-
tory— whatever other ideas may have been symbolized by their
peculiar structure and more special relations.

270 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

The other and more common position assigned to the cheru-
bim is in immediate connection with the dwelling-place and
throne of God. This connection comes first into view when the
instructions were given to Moses regarding the construction of
the tabernacle in the wilderness. As the tabernacle was to be
in a manner, the habitation of God, where He was to dwell and
manifest Himself to His people, the whole of the curtains form-
ing the interior of the tent were commanded to be inwoven
with cherubic figures. But as the inner sanctuary was more
especially the habitation of God, where He fixed His throne of
holiness, Moses was commanded, for the erection of this throne,
to make two cherubim, one at each end of the ark of the cove-
nant, and to place them so that they should stand with out-
stretched wings, their faces toward each other, and toward the
mercy-seat, the lid of the ark, which lay between them. That
mercy-seat, or the space immediately above it, bounded on either
side by the cherubim, and covered by their wings,1 was the
throne of God, as the God of the Old Covenant, the ideal seat
of the divine commonwealth in Israel. ' There] said God to
Moses, : will I meet with thee, and I will commune with thee
from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim
which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I
will give thee in commandment to the children of Israel.'2 This
is the fundamental passage regarding the connection of the
cherubim with the throne of God ; and it is carefully to be noted,
that while the seat of the divine presence and glory is said to be
above the mercy-seat, it is also said to be between the cherubim.
The same form of expression is used also in another passage in
the Pentateuch, which may likewise be called a fundamental
one : ' And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the
congregation (more properly, the tent of meeting) to speak with
Him, then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from
off the mercy-seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from
between the two cherubim.' 3 Hence the Lord was represented
as the God ' who dwelleth between the cherubims,' according to
our version, and correctly as to the sense ; though, as the verb is
used without a preposition in the original, the more exact render-
ing would be, the God who dwelleth in (inhabiteth, J?^'), or

1 Ex. xxv. 20. 2 Ex. xxv. 22. s Num. vii. 89.

THE CHERUBIM. 271

occupies (3":), viz. as a throne or seat) tlic cherubim. These
two verbs are interchanged in the form of expression, which
is used with considerable frequency;1 and it is from the use
of the first of them that the Jewish term Shekinah (the in-
dwelling), in reference to the symbol of the divine presence,
is derived. The space above the mercy-seat, enclosed by the
two cherubim with their outstretched wings, bending and look-
ing toward each other, was regarded as the local habitation
which God possessed as a peculiar dwelling-place or occupied
as a throne in [srael. And it is entirely arbitrary, and against
the plain import of the two fundamental passages, to insert
abur . as is still very often done by interpreters (' dwelleth,'
or ' sitteth enthroned above the cherubim'); still more so to
make anything depend, as to the radical meaning of the symbol,
on the seat of God being considered above rather than between
the cherubim.

Hengstenberg is guilty of this error, when he represents the
proper place of the cherubim as being under the throne of God,
and holds that to be their first business — though he disallows
the propriety of regarding them as material supports to the
throne.' The meaning he adopts of the symbol absolutely
required them to be in this position ; since only by their being
beneath the throne of God, could they with any fitness be
regarded as imaging the living creation below, as subject to
the overruling power and sovereignty of God.3 Hofmann and
Pelitzsch go still farther in this direction; and, adopting the
notion repudiated by Hengstenberg, consider the cherubim as
the formal bearers of Jehovah's throne. Delitzsch even affirms,
in opposition (we think) to the plainest language, that wherever
the part of the cherubim is distinctly mentioned in Old Testa-
ment Scripture, they appear as the bearers of Jehovah and Hi
throne, and that lie sat enthroned upon the cherubim in the

1 For example, 1 Sam. iv. I ; 2 Sam. vi. 2 ; Pa, Ixxx. 1. wax. 1, etc.

' mm. i'n Kev. i\ . ii.
r" rl bis is all he makes of thi m, both in his ( 'omnu ntary o i /.'- in lation, and
liis later treatise on the subject in an Appendix to his work on Ezekiel.
Consequently, according to his view, 'they belong merely to the depart-
1 of natural religion.1 Why ahould tiny, then, never appear till
• in. red, and again finally disappear when Bin and its p alts have been
taken aw a) ''. Much that is said of them is inexplicable on Buch a view.

272 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

midst of the worldly sanctuary.1 There are, in fact, only two
representations of the kind specified. One is in Ps. xviii. 10,
where the Lord is described as coming down for judgment
upon David's enemies, and in doing so, ' riding upon a cherub,
and flying upon the wings of the wind' — obviously a poetical
delineation, in which it would be as improper to press closely
what is said of the position of the cherub, as what is said of
the wings of the wind. The one image was probably intro-
duced with the view merely of stamping the divine manifesta-
tion with a distinctively covenant aspect, as the other for the
purpose of exhibiting the resistless speed of its movements.
But if the allusion is to be taken less ideally, it must be borne
in mind that the manifestation described is primarily and pre-
eminently for judgment, not as in the temple, for mercy ; and
this may explain the higher elevation given to the seat of divine
majesty. The same holds good also of the other representation,
in which the throne or glory of the Lord appears above the
cherubim. It is in Ezekiel, where, in two several places (ch. i.
26, x. 1), there is first said to have been a firmament upon the
heads of the living creatures, and then above the firmament
the likeness of a throne. The description is so palpably different
from that given of the Sanctuary, that it would be absurd to
subordinate the one to the other. We must rather hold, that in
the special and immediate object of the theophany exhibited to
Ezekiel, there was a reason for giving such a position to the
throne of God — one somewhat apart from the cherubim, and
elevated distinctly above them. And we believe that reason
may be found, in its being predominantly a manifestation for
judgment, in which the seat of the divine glory naturally ap-
peared to rise to a loftier and more imposing elevation than it
was wont to occupy in the Holiest. This seems to be clearly in-
dicated in ch. x. 4, where, in proceeding to the work of judg-
ment the o-lory of the Lord is represented as going up from the
cherub and standing over the threshold of the house ; imme-
diately after which the house was filled with the cloud — the
symbol of divine wrath and retribution. We may add that the
statement in Rev. iv. 6, where the cherubic forms are said to
have appeared ' in the midst of the throne, and round about the
1 Die Genesis Ausgrfcgt, p. 145.

THE CHERUBIM. 273

throne,' is plainly at variance with the idea of their acting as
supports to the throne. The throne itself is described in ver. 2,
as being laid (iicelTo) in heaven, which excludes the supposition
of any instrument* being employed to bear it aloft. And from
the living creatures being represented as at once in the midst of
tin- throne, and round about it, nothing further or more certain
can be inferred beyond their appearing in a position of imme-
diate nearness to it. The elders sat round about the throne;
but the cherubim appeared in it as well as around it — implying
that theirs was the place of closest proximity to the Divine Being
who sat on it.

The result, then, which arises, we may almost say with con-
clusive certainty, from the preceding investigation, is, that the
kind of life which was symbolized by the cherubim, was life
most nearly and essentially connected with God — life as it is, or
shall be, held by those who dwell in His immediate presence,
and form, in a manner, the very inclosure and covering of His
throne : pre-eminently, therefore, spiritual and holy life. Holi-
ness becomes God's house in general ; and of necessity it rises
to its highest creaturely representation in those who are regarded
compassing about the most select and glorious portion of the
house — the seat of the living God Himself. Whether His
peculiar dwelling were in the garden of Eden, or in the rcces- s
of a habitation made by men's hands, the presence of the cheru-
bim alike proclaimed Him to be One, who indispensably requires
of all who are round about Him, the property of life, and in
connection therewith the beauty of holiness, which is, in a sens.',
the life of life, as possessed and exercised by His intelligent off-
spring.

4. Our last point of scriptural inquiry was to be respecting
the kinds of agency attributed to the cherubim.

We naturally again revert, first, to wdiat is said of them in
connection with the garden of Eden, though our information
there is the scantiest. It is merely said that the cherubim were
made to dwell at the east of the garden, and a flaming sword,
turning every way, to keep the way to the tree of life. The two
instruments — the cherubim and the sword — are associated to-

ii'T in regard to this keeping; and as the text draws no
distinction between them, it is quite arbitrary to say, with Biihr,

VOL. I. S

274 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

that the cherubim alone had to do with it, and to do with it pre-
cisely as Adam had. It is said of Adam, that ' God put him
into the garden to dress it and to keep it,' * not the one simply,
but both together. He had to do a twofold office in respect
to the garden — to attend to its cultivation, as far as might
then be needful, and to keep or preserve it, namely, from
the disturbing and desolating influence of evil. The charge
to keep plainly implied some danger of losing. And it became
still plainer, when the tenure of possession was immediately sus-
pended on a condition, the violation of which was to involve the
penalty of death. The keeping was to be made good against a
possible contingence, which might subvert the order of God,
and change the region of life into a charnel-house of death.
Now it is the same word that is used in regard to the cherubim
and the flaming sword : These now were to keep — not, how-
ever, like Adam, the entire garden, but simply the way to the
tree of life ; to maintain in respect to this one point the settled
order of Heaven, and that more especially by rendering the way
inaccessible to fallen man. There is here also, no doubt, a pre-
sent occupancy ; but the occupancy of only a limited portion, a
mere pathway, and for the definite purpose of defending it from
unhallowed intrusion.

Still, not simply for defence : for occupancy as well as de-
fence. And the most natural thought is, that as in the keeping
there was a twofold idea, so a twofold representation was given
to it : that the occupancy was more immediately connected with
the cherubim, and the defence against intrusion with the flaming
sword. One does not see otherwise what need there could have
been for both. Nor is it possible to conceive how the ends in
view could otherwise have been served. It was beyond all
doubt for man's spiritual instruction that such peculiar instru-
ments were employed at the east of the garden of Eden, to
awaken and preserve in his bosom right thoughts of the God
with whom he had to do. But an image of terror and repulsion
was not alone sufficient for this. There was needed along with
it an image of mercy and hope ; and both were given in the ap-
pearances that actually presented themselves. When the eye of
man looked to the sword, with its burnished and fiery aspect, he

] Geu. ii. 15.

THE CHERUBIM. 275

could not but be struck with awe at the thought of God's severe
and retributive justice. But when he saw, at the same time, in
near and friendly connection with that emblem of Jehovah's
righteousness, living or life-like forms of being, cast pre-emi-
nently in his own mould, but bearing along with his the likeness
also of the choicest species of the animal creation around him —
when he saw this, what could he think but that still for crea-
tures of earthly rank, and for himself most of all, an interest
was reserved by the mercy of God in the things that pertain e 1
to the blessed region of life? That region could not now, by
reason of sin, be actually held by him ; but it was provisionally
held — by composite forms of creature-life, in which his nature
appeared as the predominating element. And with what design,
if not to teach that when that nature of his should have nothino-
to fear from the avenging justice of God, it should regain its
place in the holy and blissful haunts from which it had mean-,
while been excluded? So that, standing before the eastern
approach to Eden, and scanning with intelligence the appear-
ances that there presented themselves to his view, the child of
faith might say to himself, That region of life is not finally lost
to me. It has neither been blotted from the face of creation,
nor entrusted to natures of another sphere. Earthly forms still
hold possession of it. The very natures that have lost the pri-
vilege continue to have their representation in the new and
unreal-like occupants that are meanwhile appointed to keep it.
Better things, then, are doubtless in reserve for them ; and ?/n/
nature, which stands out so conspicuously above them all, fallen
though it be at present, is assuredly destined to rise again, and
enjoy in the reality what is there ideally and representative! v
assigned to it.

There is nothing surely unnatural or far-fetched in such a
line of reflection. It manifestly lay within the reach of the
very earliest members of a believing seed ; especially since the
light it is supposed to have conveyed did not stand alone, but
was only supplementary to that embodied in the first grand
promise to the fallen, that the seed of the woman should brui
the head of the serpent. The supernatural machinery at the
east of the garden merely showed how this bruising was to pro-
ceed, and in what result it might be expected to issue. It was

276 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

to proceed, not by placing in abeyance the manifestation of
divine righteousness, but by providing for its being exercised
without the fallen creature being destroyed. Nor should it
issue in a partial, but in a complete recovery — nay, in the pos-
session of a state higher than before. For the creaturehood of
earth, it would seem, was vet to stand in a closer relation to the
manifested glory of God, and was to become capable of enduring
sights and performing ministrations which were not known in
the original constitution of things on earth.

It might not be possible, perhaps, for the primeval race

of worshippers to go further, or to get a more definite insight

into the purposes of God, by contemplating the cherubim. We

scarcely think it could. But we can easily conceive how the

light and hope therewith connected would be felt to grow, when

this embodied creaturehood — or, if we rather choose to regard

it, this ideal manhood — was placed in the sanctuary of God's

presence and glory, and so as to form the immediate boundary

and covering of His throne. A relation of greater nearness to

the divine was there evidently won for the human and earthly.

And not that only, but a step also in advance toward the actual

enjoyment of what was ideally exhibited. For while, at first,

men in flesh and blood were not permitted to enter into the

region of holy life occupied by the cherubim, but only to look at

it from without, now the way was at length partially laid open,

and in the person of the high priest, through the blood of

atonement, they could make an approach, though still only at

stated times, to the very feet of the cherubim of glory. The

blessed and hopeful relation of believing men to these singular

attendants of the divine majesty rose thus more distinctly into

view, and in more obvious connection also with the means

through which the ultimate realization was to be attained. But

the information in this line, and by means of these materials,

reaches its furthest limit, when, in the Apocalyptic vision of a

triumphant Church, the four and twenty elders, who represent

her, are seen sitting in royal state and crowned majesty close

beside the throne, with the cherubic forms in and around it.

There, at last, the ideal and the actual freely meet together — the

merely symbolical representatives of the life of God, and its

real possessors, the members of a redeemed and glorified Church*

THE CHERUBIM. 277

And the inspiring clement of the whole, that which at once ex-
plains all and connects all harmoniously together, is the central
object appearing there of 'a Lamb, as if it had been slain, in
the midst of the throne, and of the four living creatures, and in
the midst of the elders.1 Here the mystery resolves itself $ in
this consummate wonder all other wonders cease, all dilHculties
vanish. The Lamb of God, uniting together heaven and earth,
human guilt and divine mercy, man's nature and God's perfec-
tions, has opened a pathway for tin- fallen to the very height
and pinnacle of created being. With Him in the midst, as a
sun and shield, there is ground for the most secure standing, and
for the closest fellowship with God.

We must glance, however, at the other kinds of agency con-
nected with the cherubim. In the first vision of Ezekiel, it is
by their appearance, which we have already noticed, not by their
agency, properly speaking, that they convey instruction regard-
in"- the character of the manifestations of Himself which the
Lord was going to give through the prophet. But at ch. x. 7,
where the approaching judgment upon Jerusalem is symbolically
exhibited by the scattering of coals of fire over the city, the fire
is represented as being taken from between the cherubim, and
by the hand of one of them given to the ministering angel to
be cast forth upon the city. It was thus indicated — so far we
can easily understand the vision — that the coming execution of
judgment was not only to be of God, but of Him in connection
with the full consent and obedient service of the holy powers
an I agencies around Him. And the still more specific indica-
tion might also be meant to be conveyed, that as the best interests
of humanity required the work of judgment to be executed, so
there should not be wanting a fitting instrument for the pur-
pose ; what the cherub's hand symbolically did, would in due
time be executed by a human agency.

An entirely similar action, differing only in the form it
assumes, is connected with the cherubim in ch. xv. of Revelation,
where one of the living creatures is represented as giving into
the hands of the angels the seven last vials of the wrath of God.
The rational and living creaturchood of earth, in its state of
alliance and fellowship with God, thus appeared to go along with
the concluding judgments, which were necessary to bring the

273 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

evil in the world to a perpetual end. Nor is the earlier and
more prominent action ascribed to them materially different —
that connected with the seven-sealed Book. This book, viewed
generally, unquestionably represents the progress and triumph
of Christ's kingdom upon earth over all that was there naturally
opposed to it. The first seal, when opened, presents the Divine
King riding forth in conquering power and majesty ; the last
exhibits all prostrate and silent before Him. The different seals,
therefore, unfold the different stages of this mighty achieve-
ment ; and as they successively open, each of the living creatures
in turn calls aloud on the symbolic agency to go forth on its
course. That agency, in its fundamental character, represents
the judicial energy and procedure of God toward the sinfulness
of the world, for the purpose of subduing it to Himself, of
establishing righteousness and truth among men, and bringing
the actual state of things on earth into conformity with what is
ideally right and good. Who, then, might more fitly urge for-
ward and herald such a work, than the ideal creatures in which
earthly forms of being appeared replete with the life of God,
and in closest contact with His throne % Such might be said to
be their special interest and business. And hence, as there were
only four of them in the vision (with some reference, perhaps,
to the four corners of the earth),1 one merely for each of the
first four seals of the book, the remaining symbols of this part
of the Apocalyptic imagery were thrown into forms which did
not properly admit of any such proclamation being uttered in
connection with them.2

1 We say only perhaps; for though Hengstenberg and others lay much
stress upon the number four, as the signature of the earth, yet there being
only two in the tabernacle, would seem to indicate that nothing material
depends on the number. We think that the increase from the original
two to four may, with more semblance of truth, be accounted for histori-
cally. When the temple was built, two cherubim of immense proportions
were put into the Most Holy Place, and under these were placed the ark
with its ancient and smaller cherubim : so that there were henceforth
actually four cherubim over the ark. And as the form of Ezekiel's vision,
in its leading elements, was evidently taken from the temple, and John's
again from that, it seems quite natural to account for the four in this way.

2 Compare what is said on this subject in Prophecy in its Distinctive
Nature, etc., pp. 404, 405.

THE CHERUBIM. 27'.)

"We can discern the same leading characteristics in the
further use made of the cherubic imagery in the Apocalyp
They are represented as ceaselessly proclaiming ' Holy, holy,
holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come,'
thereby showing it to he their calling to make known the abso-
lute holiness of God, as infinitely r> -moved, from the moral dis-
orders and sorrows of creation. In their ascriptions of praise,
too, they are represented not only as giving honour and glory,
hut also thanks to Ilim that sitteth on the throne, and as
joining with the ciders in the new song that was sung to
the Lamb for the benefits of His salvation.1 So that they
plainly stand related to the redemptive as well as the creative
work of God. And yet in all, from first to last, only ideal
representatives of what pertains to God's kingdom on earth,
not as substantive existences themselves possessing it. They
belong to the imagery of faith, not to her abiding realities.
And so, wdien the ultimate things of redemption come, their
place is no more found. They hold out the lamp of hope to
fallen man through the wilderness of life, pointing his expec-
tations to the better country. But when this country breaks
upon our view — when the new heavens and the new earth sup-
plant the old, then also the ideal gives way to the real. We Bee
another paradise, with its river and tree of life, and a present

I. and a presiding Saviour, and holy angels, and a countless
multitude of redeemed spirits rejoicing in the fulness of bless-
ing and glory provided for them; but no sight is anywhere to
be seen of the cherubim of glory. They have fulfilled the end
of their temporary existence; and when no longer needed, they
vanish like the guiding stars of night before the bright sunshine
of eternal day.

To sum up, then : The cherubim were in their very nature
and design artificial and temporary forms of being — uniting in
their composite structure the distinctive features of the high
kinds of creaturely existence on earth — man's first, and chiefly.
They were set up for representations to the eye of faith of
earth's living creaturehood, and more especially of its rational
and immortal, though fallen head, with reference to the better
hopes and destiny in prospect. From the very first they gave

1 Re*, iv. 'J, v. 8

280 TUE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

promise of a restored condition to the fallen ; and by the use
afterwards made of them, the light became clearer and more
distinct. By their designations, the positions assigned them,
the actions from time to time ascribed to them, as well as their
own peculiar structure, it was intimated that the good in pro-
spect should be secured, not at the expense of, but in perfect
consistence with, the claims of God's righteousness ; that re-
storation to the holiness must precede restoration to the blessed-
ness of life ; and that only by being made capable of dwelling
beside the presence of the only Wise and Good, could man
hope to have his portion of felicity recovered. But all this,
they further betokened, it was in God's purpose to have accom-
plished ; and so to do it, as at the same time to raise humanity
to a higher than its original destination — in its standing nearer
to God, and with its powers of life and capacities of working
variously ennobled.

Before passing from the subject of the cherubim, we must
briefly notice some of the leading views that have been enter-
tained by others respecting them. These will be found to rest
upon a part merely of the representations of Scripture to the
exclusion of others, and most commonly to a neglect of what
we hold it to be of especial moment to keep prominently in view
— the historical use of the cherubim of Scripture. That this
may justly be affirmed of an opinion once very prevalent both
among Jews and Christians, and not without its occasional advo-
cates still,1 which held them to be celestial existences, or more
specifically angels, will readily be understood. For the com-
ponent parts of the cherubic appearance being all derived from
the forms of being which have their local habitation on earth, it
is terrestrial, as contradistinguished from celestial, objects which
we are necessitated to think of. And their original position at
the east of Eden would have been inexplicable, as connected
with a religion of hope, if celestial and not earthly natures had
been represented in them. The natural conclusion in that case
must have been, that the way of life was finally lost for man.

1 Elliott's Horse Apoc. Introd. ; partially adopted also, and especially in
regard to the cherubim of Eden, by Mr. Mills in a little work on Sacred
Sijmbolocjy, p. 136.

THE CHERUBIM. 281

In the Apocalypse, too, they are expressly distinguished from
the anfels; and in ch. V. the living creatures and the elders
form one distinct chorus (ver. 8), while the angels form another
(ver. 11). There is more of verisimilitude in another and at
present more prevalent opinion, that the cherubim represent the
Church of the redeemed. This opinion has often been pro-
pounded, and quite recently has been set forth in a separate
work on the cherubim.1 It evidently fails, however, to account
satisfactorily for their peculiar structure, and is of a too con-
crete and specific character to have been represented by such
ideal and shifting formations as the cherubim of Scripture.
These are more naturally conceived to have had to do with
natures than with persons. Besides, it is plainly inconsistent
with the place occupied by the cherubim in the Apocalyptic
vision, where the four and twenty crowned elders obviously
represent the Church of the redeemed. To ascribe the same
otlice to the cherubim would be to suppose a double and essen-
tially different representation of the same object. To avoid
this objection, Vitringa " modified the idea so as to make the
cherubim in the Revelation (for he supposed those mentioned
in Gen. iii. 24 to have been angels) the representatives of such
as hold stations of eminence in the Church, — evangelists and
ministers, — as the elders were of the general body of believers.
Hut it is an entirely arbitrary notion, and destitute of support
in the general representations of Scripture; as, indeed, is vir-
tually admitted by the learned author, in so peculiarly con-
necting it with the vision of St. John. An opinion which
finds .some colour of support only in a single passage, and loses
all appearance of probability when applied to others, is self-
confuted.

It was the opinion of Michaclis — an opinion bearing a vivid
impress of the general character of his mind — that the cherubim
were a sort of 'thunder horses' of Jehovah, somewhat similar
to the horses of Jupiter among the Greeks. This idea has so

much of a heathen aspect, and so little to give it even an ap-
parent countenance in Scripture, that no further notice need
be taken of it. More acceptance on the Continent has been

1 Doctrine of the Cherubim, by G Smith, F.A.S.

- Obe. Sac. L 846.

232 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

found for the view of Herder, who regards the cherubim as
originally feigned monsters, like the dragons or griffins, which
were the fabled guardians among the ancients of certain precious
treasures. Hence he thinks the cherubim are represented as
first of all appointed to keep watch at the closed gates of para-
dise ; and for the same reason were afterwards placed by Moses
in the presence-chamber of God, which the people generally
were not permitted to enter. Latterly, however, he admits they
were differently employed, but more after a poetical fashion,
and as creatures of the imagination. This admission obviously
implies that the view will not stand an examination with all the
passages of Scripture bearing on the subject. Indeed, we shall
not be far wrong if we say that it can stand an examination
with none of them. The cherubim were not set up even in
Eden as formidable monsters to fray sinful man from approach-
ing it. They were not needed for such a purpose, as this was
sufficiently effected by the flaming sword. Nor were they
placed at the door, or about the threshold of the sanctuary, to
guard its sanctity, as on that hypothesis they should have been,
but formed a part of the furniture of its innermost region. And
the later notices of the cherubim in Scripture, which confessedly
present them in a different light, are not by any means inde-
pendent and arbitrary representations : they have a close affinity,
as we have seen, with the earlier statements ; and we cannot
doubt that the same fundamental character is to be found in all
the representations.

Spencer's idea of the cherubim was of a piece with his
views generally of the institutions of Moses : they were of
Egyptian origin, and were formed in imitation of those mon-
strous compounds which played so prominent a part in the
sensuous worship of that cradle of superstition and idolatry.
Such composite forms, however, were by no means so peculiar
to Egypt as Spencer represents. They were common to heathen
antiquity, and are even understood to have been more frequently
used in the East than in Egypt. Nor is it unworthy of notice,
that of all the monstrous combinations which are mentioned
in ancient writings, and which the more successful investiga-
tions of later times have brought to light from the remains of
Egyptian idolatry, not one has an exact resemblance to the

THE CHERUBIM. 283

cherub: the four creature-forma combined in it seem never to
have been so combined in Egypt ; and the only thing approach-
ing to it yet discovered is to be found in India. It is quite
gratuitous, therefore, to assert that the cherubim were of Egyp-
tian origin. But even if similar forms had been found there,
it would not have .settled the question, either as to the proper
origin or the real nature of the cherubim. If they were placed
in Eden after the fall, they had a known character and habi-
tation in the world many centuries before Egypt had a being.
And then, whatever composite images might be found in Egypt
or other idolatrous nations, these, in accordance with the whole
character of heathen idolatry, which was essentially the deifi-
cation of nature, must have been representations of the God-
head itself, as symbolized by the objects of nature; while the
cherubim are uniformly represented as separate from God, and
as ministers of righteousness before Him. So well was this
understood among the Israelites, that even in the most idolatrous
periods of their history, the cherubim never appear among the
instruments of their false worship. This separate and creaturely
character of the cherubim is also fatal to the opinion of those
who regard them as 'emblematical of the ever-blessed Trinity
in covenant to redeem man,' which is, besides, utterly at variance
with the position of the cherubim in the temple ; for how could
( iod be said to dwell between the ever-blessed Trinity .' ' And
the same objections apply to another opinion closely related to
this, according to which the cherubim represent, not the God-
head personally, but the attributes and perfections of God ; are
held to be symbolical personifications of these as manifested in
God's works and ways. This view has been adopted with
\arious modifications by persons of great name, and of very
different tendencies — such as Philo, Grotius, Bochart, Kosen-
miiller, De Wettej but it is not supported either by the fun-

1 It i.s Parkhurst, and the Butchinsonian school, who are the patrons of
tliis ridiculous notion. Borsley makes a most edifying improvement upon

rith reference to modern times : ■ 'l'h<- * - 1 » * tub was a compound
the calf (of Jeroboam) single. Jeroboam therefore, and his subjects, •■
Unitarians I* — (Works, vol. viii. 241). Be forgot, apparently, thai there
four parts in the cherub ; so that not a trinity, but a quaternity, would
have been the proper correlative under the Gosp L

284 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCKIPTURE.

damental nature of the cherubim or by their historical use. We
cannot perceive, indeed, how the cherubim could really have
been regarded as symbols of the divine perfections, or personi-
fications of the divine attributes, without falling under the ban
of the second commandment. It would surely have been an
incongruity to have forbidden, in the strongest terms and with
the severest penalties, the making of any likeness of God, and
at the same time to have set up certain symbolical images of
His perfections in the very region of His presence, and in im-
mediate contact with His throne. No corporeal representation
could consistently be admitted there of anything but what
directly pointed to creaturely existences, and their relations and
interests. And the nearest possible connection with God which
we can conceive the cherubim to have been intended to hold,
was that of shadowing forth how the creatures of His hand,
and (originally) the bearers of His image on earth, might be-
come so replenished with His spirit of holiness as to be, in a
manner, the shrines of His indwelling and gracious presence.

Bahr, in his Symbolik, approaches more nearly to this view
than any of the preceding ones, and theoretically avoids the
more special objection we have urged against it; but it is by
a philosophical refinement too delicate, especially without some
accompanying explanation, to catch the apprehension of a com-
paratively unlearned and sensuous people. The cherubim, he
conceives, were images of the creation in its highest parts —
combining in a concentrated shape the most perfect forms of
creature-life on earth, and, as such, serving as representatives
of all creation. But the powers of life in creation are the signs
and witnesses of those which, without limit or imperfection, are
in God ; and so the relative perfection of life exhibited in the
cherubim symbolized the absolute perfection of life that is
in God — His omniscience, His peerless majesty, His creative
power, His unerring wisdom. The cherub was not an image
of the Creator, but it was an image of the Creator's manifested
glory. We repeat, this is far too refined and shadowy a dis-
tinction to lie at the base of a popular religion, and to serve for
instruction to a people surrounded on every hand by the gross
forms and dense atmosphere of idolatry. It could scarcely
have failed, in the circumstances, to lead to the worship of the

THE CHERUBIM. 2S3

cherubim, as, reflectively at least, the worthiest representations
of God which could he conceived by men on earth. But if
this evil could have been obviated, which we can only think
of as an inseparable consequence, there is another and still
Stronger attaching to the view, which we may call an inse-
parable ingredient. For if the cherubim were representatives
of created life, and thence factitious witnesses of the Creator's
irlorv; if such were the sum and substance of what was repre-
tted in them, then it was after all but a symbol of things in
nature; and, unlike all the other symbols in the religion of the
( )ld Testament, it must have borne no respect to God's work,
and character, and purposes of grace. That religion was one
essentially adapted to the condition, the necessities, and desires
of fallen man ; and the symbolical forms and institutions be-
longing to it bear respect to God's nature and dealings, not so
much in connection with the gifts and properties of creation, as
with the principles of righteousness and the hopes of salvation.
If the cherubim are held to be symbolical only of what is seen
of God in nature, they stand apart from this properly religious
province : they have no real adaptation to the circumstances of
a fallen world; they have to do simply with creative, not with
redemptive manifestations of God; and so far as they are con-
cerned, the religion of the Old Testament would after all have
been, like the different forms of heathenism, a mere nature-
religion. No further proof surely is needed of the falseness of
the view in question ; for, in a scheme of worship so wonder-
fully compact, and skilfully arranged toward a particular end,
the supposition of a heterogeneous element at the centre is not
to be entertained.

We have already referred to the view of Ilcngstcnberg,
and shown its incompatibility to some extent with the Bcriptural
representations. His opinions upon this subject, indeed, appear
to have been somewhat fluctuating. In one of his earlier pro-
ductions, his work on the Pentateuch, he expresses his con-
currence with Bahr, and even goes so far as to say, that he
regarded Bahr's treatment of the cherubim as the most succ<

■

ful part of the Symbolik, Then in his Egypt and the Books of

Moses, he gave utterance to an opinion at variance with the
radical idea of Bahr, that the cherubim had a connection, both

286 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

in nature and origin, with the sphinxes of Egypt. And in his
work on the Revelation, he expressly opposes Bahr's view, and
holds that the living forms in the cherubim were merely the
representation of all that is living on the earth. But repre-
senting the higher things on earth, they also naturally serve as
representations of the earth itself ; and God's appearing en-
throned above the cherubim symbolized the truth that He is
the God of the whole earth, and has everything belonging to
it, matter and mind, subject to His control. As mentioned
before, this view, if correct, would have required the position
of the cherubim to be always very distinctly and manifestly
below the throne of God ; which, however, it does not appear
to have been, except when the manifestation described was
primarily for judgment. It leaves unexplained also the pro-
minence given in the cherubic delineations to the form and
likeness of man, and the circumstance that the cherubim should,
in the Revelation, be nearer to the throne than the elders —
placing, according to that view, the creation, merely as such,
nearer than the Church. But the representation errs, rather
as giving a partial and limited view of the truth, than main-
taining what is absolutely contrary to it. It approaches, in our
judgment, much nearer to the right view than that more re-
cently set forth by Delitzsch, who considers the cherubim as
simply the bearers of Jehovah's chariot, and as having been
placed originally at the eastern gate of paradise, as if to carry
Him aloft to heaven for the execution of judgment, should
mankind proceed further in the course of iniquity. A con-
ceivable notion certainly ! but leaving rather too much to the
imagination for so early an age, and scarcely taking the form
best fitted for working either on men's fears or hopes ! In the
second edition of his work, published since the preceding was
written, the learned author has somewhat modified his view of
the cherubim. He still regards them as the bearers of Jeho-
vah's chariot; but lays stress chiefly upon the general idea
that they appeared as the jealous guardians of Jehovah's pre-
sence and glory — therefore, watchers by way of eminence. As
this view has been already noticed, it does not call for any
fresh consideration.

CHAPTER FOURTH.

SACRIFICIAL WOB8HIP.

The symbols to which our attention has hitherto been directed,
were simply ordinances of teaching. They spake in language
not to be mistaken of the righteous character of God, of the
evil of sin, of the moral and physical ruin it had brought upon
the world, of a purpose of grace and a prospect of recovery ;
but they did no more. There were no rites of service asso-
ciated with them; nor of themselves did they call men to em-
body in any outward action the knowledge and principles they
were the means of imparting. But religion must have its
active services as well as its teachinrr ordinances. The one
furnish light and direction, only that the other may be intelli-
gently performed. And a symbolical religion, if it could even

aid to exist, could certainly not have perpetuated itself, or
kept alive the knowledge of divine truth in the world, without
the- regular employment of one or more symbolical institutions
fitted for the suitable expression of religious ideas and feelings.
Now the only tiling of this description which makes its appear-
ance in the earlier periods of the world's history, and which
continued to hold, through all the after stages of symbolical
worship, the paramount place, is the rite of sacrifice.

We are not told, however, of the actual institution of this
rite in immediate connection with the fall; and the silence of
inspired history regarding it till Cain and Abel had reached
the- season of manhood, and the mention of it then simply as a
matter of fact in the narrative of their lives, has given rise to
much disputation concerning the origin of sacrifice — whether
it was of divine appointment, or of human invention | And if
the latter, to what circumstances in man's condition, or to what
views and feelings naturally arising in his mind, might it owe
its existence? In the investigation of these questions, a line
of inquiry has not (infrequently ben pursued by theologians,

2S7

288 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCKIPTURE.

more befitting the position of philosophical reasoners than of
Christian divines. The solution has been sought for chiefly in
the general attributes of human nature, and the practices of a
remote and semi-barbarous heathenism, as if Scripture were
entirely silent upon the subject till we come far down the
stream of time. Discarding such a mode of conducting the
investigation, and looking to the notices of Scripture for our
only certain light upon the subject, we hope, without material
difficulty, to find our way to conclusions on the leading points
connected with it, which may commend themselves as fairly
drawn and reasonably grounded.

1. In regard, first of all, to the divine authority and accept-
able nature of worship by sacrifice, — which is often mixed up
with the consideration of its origin, — Scripture leaves very little
room for controversy. The only debateable ground, as concerns
this aspect of the matter, respects that very limited period of
time which stretches from the fall of Adam to the offerings of
Cain and Abel. From this latter period, — verging, too, on the
very commencement of the world's history, — we are expressly
informed that sacrifice of one kind had a recognised place in
the worship of God, and met with His acceptance. Not only
did Abel appear before God with a sacrificial offering, but by a
visible token of approval — conveyed in all probability through
some action of the cherubim or the flaming sword, near which,
as the seat of the manifested presence of God, the service would
naturally be performed — the seal was given of the divine ac-
ceptance and blessing. Thenceforth, at least, sacrifice presented
after the manner of Abel's might be regarded as of divine
authority. It bore distinctly impressed upon it the warrant and
approbation of Heaven ; and whatever uncertainty might hang
around it during the brief space which intervened between the
fall and the time of Abel's accepted offering, it was from that
time determined to be a mode of worship with which God was
well pleased. We might rather say the mode of worship ; for
sacrifice, accompanied, it is probable, with some words of prayer,
is the only stated act of worship by which believers in the
earlier ages appear to have given more formal expression to
their faith and hope in God. When it is said of the times of
Enos, the grandson of Adam in the pious line of Seth, that

;

SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. 2S9

' then men began to call upon the name of the Lord,' there can
be little doubt that they did so after the example of Abel, by the
presentation of sacrifice — only, as profiting by the fatal result
of his personal dispute with Cain, in a more public and regu-
larly concerted planner. It appears to have been then agreed
among the worshippers of Jehovah what offerings to present, and
how to do so; as, in later times, it is frequently reported of
Abraham and hia family, in connection with their having built
an altar, that they then ' called upon the name of the Lord.' l
That sacrifice held the same place in the instituted worship of
God after the deluge which it had done before, we learn, first

all, from the case of Noah — the connecting link between the
old and new worlds — who no sooner left the ark than he built
an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings of every clean
beast and fowl, from which the Lord is said to have smelled a
sweet savour. In the delineation given of the earlier patriarchal
times in the Book of Job, we find him not only spoken of as
exhibiting his piety in the stated presentation of burnt-offerings,
but also as expressly required by God to make sacrifice for the
atonement of his friends, who had sinned with their lips in

taking what was not right. And as we have undoubted testi-
monies respecting the acceptable character of the worship per-
formed by Abraham and his chosen seed, so we learn that in
this worship sacrificial offerings played the principal part, and
were even sometimes directly enjoined by God.a

The \. p..- latest of these notices in sacred history carry us up
to a period far beyond that to which the authentic annals of any
heathen kingdom reach, while the earliest refer to what occurred
only a few years subsequent to the fall. From the time of
Abel, then, downwards through the whole course of antediluvian
and patriarchal history, it appears that the regular and formal
worship of God mainly consisted in the offering of sacrifice, and
that this was not rendered by a sort of religious venture on the
part of the worshippers, but with the known sanction, and virtual,
il not explicit, appointment of God. As regards the right of
men to draw near to God with such offerings, and their hope of
acceptance at Hi, hands, no shadow of doubt can fairly be said
1 <i ID. xii. .s, xiii. 4, xxvi. .

1 Gen. xv. 'j, lit, 17, xxii. :.', 1;'., xxxr. 1. etc.

V< >L. I. T

290 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

to rest upon any portion of the field of inquiry, except what may
relate to the worship of the parents themselves of the human
family.

2. It is well to keep in view the clear and satisfactory de-
liverance we obtain on this branch of the subject. ' And if we
could ascertain definitely what were the views and feelings ex-
pressed by the worshippers in the kind of sacrifice which icas
accepted by God, the question of its precise origin would be of
little moment ; since, so recently after the institution of the rite,
we have unequivocal evidence of its being divinely owned and
approved, as actually offered. But it is here that the main
difficulty presents itself, as it is only indirectly we can gather the
precise objects for which the primitive race of worshippers came
before God with sacrificial offerings. The question of their
orio-in still is of moment for ascertaining this, and at the same
time for determining the virtue possessed by the offerings in the
sight of God. If they arose simply in the devout feelings of the
worshipper, they might have been accepted by God as a natural
and proper form for the expression of these feelings ; but they
could not have borne any typical respect to the higher sacrifice
of Christ, as, in the things of redemption, type and antitype
must be alike of God. And on this point we now proceed to
remark negatively, that the facts already noticed concerning the
first appearance and early history of sacrifice, present insuper-
able objections to all the theories which have sought, on simply
natural grounds, to account for its human origin.

The theory, for example, which has received the suffrage of
many learned men, both in this country and on the Continent,1
and which attempts to explain the rise of sacrifice by a reference
to the feelings of men when they were in the state of rudest
barbarism, capable of entertaining only the most gross and carnal
ideas of God, and consequently disposed to deal with Him much
as they would have done with a fellow-creature, whose favour
they desired to win by means of gifts, — this theory is utterly at
variance with the earlier notices of sacrificial worship. It is
founded upon a sense of the value of property, and of the effect
wont to be produced by gifts of property between man and man,

1 Spencer, de Leg. Heb. lib. iii. c. 9. So also substantially, Priestley,
H. Taylor, Michaelis, Rosenmuller, Hofmann, etc.

BACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. 291

which could not have been acquired at a period when society as
yet consisted only of a few individuals, and these the members of
B single familv. And whether the <dft were viewed in the lhdit

Cj » D CJ

of a compensation, a bribe, or a feast (for each in different hands
has had its share in giving a particular shape to the theory),
no sacrifice offered with Buch a view could have met with the
divine favour and acceptance. The feeling that prompted it

must in that case have been degrading to God, indeed essen-
tially idolatrous; and the whole history of patriarchal worship,
in which God always appears to look so benignly on the offer-
ings of believing worshippers, reclaims against the idea.

Of late, however, it has been more commonly sought to ac-
count for the origin of sacrifice, by viewing it as a symbolical
act, such as might not unnaturally have su<r<rested itself to men,
in any period of society, from the feelings or practices with
which their personal experience, or the common intercourse of
life, made them familiar. But very different modes of explain-
ing the symbol have been resorted to by tluose who concur in the
same general view of its origination. Omitting the minor shades
of difference which have arisen from an undue regard beinrrhad
to distinctively Mosaic elements, Sykes, in his Essay on Sacrt/Zce,
raised his explanation on the ground that 'eating and drinking
together were the known ordinary symbols of friendship, and
wi re the usual rites of engaging in covenants and leagues.1 And
in this way some plausible thing-; may doubtless he Baid of sacri-
fice, as it appeared often in the later ages of heathenism, and
also on some special occasions among the covenant people. But
nothing thai can seem even a probable account is thereby given
of the offerings presented by believers in the first ages of the
world. For it is against all reason to suppose that sucli a svm-
bol of friendship should then have been in current use, — not to
mention that the offerings of that period seem to have been pre-
ely of the class in which no part was eaten by the worshipper
— A / causU. \\ arburton laid the ground more deeply, and with
greater show of probability, when he endeavoured to trace the

origin of sacrifice to the ancient mode of converse by action, to
aid th : > and imperfections of early language, — this being,

in his opinion, sufficient to account for men being led to adopt
such a mode of worship, whether the sacrifice might be eucha-

2fJ2 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

ristical, propitiatory, or expiatory. Gratitude for good bestowed,
he conceives, would lead the worshipper to present, by an ex-
pressive action, the first-fruits of agriculture or pasturage — the
eucharistical offering. The desire of the divine favour or pro-
tection in the business of life would, in like manner, dispose him
, to dedicate a portion of what was to be sown or propagated —
the propitiatory. And for sacrifices of an expiatory kind, the
J[j sense of sin would prompt him to take some chosen animal,
precious to the repenting criminal who deprecated, or supposed
to be obnoxious to the Deity who was to be appeased, and slay
it at the altar, in an action which, in all languages when trans-
lated into words, speaks to this purpose : ' I confess my trans-
gressions at Thy footstool, O my God ; and with the deepest
contrition implore Thy pardon, confessing that I deserve the
death which I inflict on this animal.'1 If for the infliction of
death, which Warburton here represents as the chief feature in
the action of expiatory sacrifice, we substitute the pouring out
of the blood, or simply the giving away of the life to God, there
is no material difference between his view of the origin of such
sacrifices and that recently propounded by Blihr. This inge-
nious and learned writer rejects the idea of sacrifice having come
from any supernatural teaching or special appointment of God,
as this would imply that man needed extraneous help to direct
him, whether he was to sacrifice, or how he was to do it. He
maintains, that ' as the idea of God, and its necessary expression,
was not something that came upon humanity from without,
nothing taught it, but something immediate, an original fact ;
so also is sacrifice the form of that expression. From the point
of view at which we are wont to contemplate things, separating

1 Warburton's Div. Legation, b. ix. c. 2. Davidson substantially adopts
this view, with no other difference than that he conceives it unnecessary to
make any account of the defects and imperfections of early language in ex-
plaining the origin of sacrifice ; but, regarding ' representation by action
as gratifying to men who have every gift of eloquence,' and as ' singularly
suited to great purposes of solemnity and impression,' he thinks ' not simple
adoration, not the naked and unadorned oblations of the tongue, but adora-
tion invested in some striking and significative form, and conveyed by the
instrumentality of material tokens, would be most in accordance with the
strong energies of feeling, and the insulated condition of the primitive race.'
— (Inquiry into the Origin and Intent of Sacrifice, pp. 19, 20.)

SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. 203

tlie divine from the natural, the spiritual from the corporeal, this
form must indeed always present a strange appearance. But if
we throw ourselves back on that mode of contemplation which
views the divine and spiritual as inseparable from the natural
and corporeal, we shall find nothing so far out of the way in
man's feeling himself constrained to represent the internal act
of the giving up of his whole life and being to the Godhead —
and in that all religion lives and moves — through the external
giving away of an animal, perhaps, which he loved as himself, or
on which he himself lived, and which stood in the closest con-
nection with his own existence.'1 Something of a like nature
(though exhibited in a form more obviously liable to objection)
has also received the sanction of Tholuck, who, in the Disserta-
tion on Sacrifices appended to his Commentary on Hebrews,
affirms that ' an offering was originally a gift to the Deity — a
gift by which man strives to make up the deficiency of the
always imperfect surrender of himself to God.' And in regard
especially to burnt-offerings, he says: ' Both objects, that of
thanksgiving and of propitiation, were connected with them :
on the one hand, gratitude required man to surrender what was
external as well as internal to God ; and, on the other hand,
the surrender of an outward good was considered as a substitu-
tion, a propitiation for that which was still deficient in the inter-
nal surrender.' a A salvation, it would seem, by works so far;
and only where these failed, a calling in of extraneous and
supplementary resources !

These different modes of explanation are manifestly one in
principle, and are but varying aspects of the same fundamental
view. In each form it lies open to three serious objections,
which together appear to us quite conclusive against it. 1. First,
the analogy of God'8 method of dealing with His Church in
the matter of divine worship, at other periods in her history,
is opposed to the simply human theory in any of its forms.
< rtainly at no other era did God leave His people altogether
to their own inventions for the discovery of an acceptable mo
of approaching Him, and of giving expression to their religious

>lings. Some indications He has always given of what in
this respect might be accordant with His mind, and suitable to

1 Bahr'a Symbolik, b. ii. p. 272. - Biblical Cabinet, vol. xxxix. p. 262.

294 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the position which His worshippers occupied in His kingdom.
The extent to which this directing influence was carried, formed
one of the leading characteristics of the dispensation brought
in by Moses ; the whole field of religious worship was laid under
divine prescription, and guarded against the inventions of men.
But even in the dispensation of the Gospel, which is distin-
guished for the spirituality of its nature, and its comparative
freedom from legal enactments and the observance of outward
forms, the leading ordinances of divine worship are indicated
with sufficient plainness, and what has no foundation in the
revealed word is expressly denounced as ' will-worship.' And
if the Church of the New Testament, with all her advantages
of a completed revelation, a son-like freedom, and an unction
from the Holy One, that is said to 'teach her all things,' was
not without some direction and control in regard to the proper
celebration of God's service, is it conceivable that all should
have been left utterlv loose and indeterminate when men were
still in the very infancy of a fallen condition, and their views
of spiritual truth and duty only in the forming? Where, in
that case, would have been God's jealousy for the purity of
His worship ? And where, we may also ask, His compassion
toward men ? He had disclosed to them purposes of grace,
and awakened in their bosoms the hope of a recovery from the
ruin they had incurred ; but to set them adrift without even
pointing to any ordinance fitted to meet their sense of sin, and
reassure their hearts before God, would have been to leave the
exhibition of mercy strangely defective and incomplete. For
while they knew they had to do with a God of grace and for-
giveness, they should still have been in painful uncertainty how
to worship and serve Him, so as to get a personal experience
of His blessing, and how, especially when conscience of sin
troubled them anew, they might have the uneasiness allayed.
Never surely was the tenderness of God more needed to point
the way to what was acceptable and right, than in such a day
of small things for the children of hope. And if it had not
been shown, the withholding of it could scarcely seem otherwise
than an exception to the general analogy of God's dealings with
men. 2. But, secondly, the simply human theory of the origin
of sacrifice is met by an unresolved, and, on that supposition

SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. 205

■we are persuaded, an unresolvable difficulty in respect to the
nature of ancient sacrifice. Fur as the earliest, and indeed the
only recorded mode of sacrifice in primitive times, among ac-
ceptable worshippers of God, consisted in the offering of slain
victims, it seems impossible that this particular form of sacrifice
should have been fallen upon at first, without some special
direction from above. Let the symbolical action be viewed in
either of the shades of meaning formerly described, — as ex-
pressive of the offerer's deserved death, or of the surrender of
his life to God, or as a propitiatory substitution to compensate
for the coir-cioiis defect of such surrender, — either way, how
could he have imagined that the devoting to death of a living
creature of God should have been the appropriate mode of
expressing the idea? Death is so familiar to us, as regards the
inferior creation, and so much associated with the means of our
support and comfort, that it might seem a light thing to put
an animal to death for any purpose connected with the wants
or even the convenience of men. But the first members of
the human family were in different circumstances. They must
have shrunk — unless divinely authorized — from inflicting death
on anv, and especially on the higher forms of the animal crea-
u ; since death, in so far as they had themselves to do with
it, was the peculiar expression of God's displeasure on account
of sin. All, indeed, belonging to that creation were to be sub-
ject to them. Their appointment from the very first was to
subdue the earth, and render everything in it subservient to
their legitimate use. l>ut this use did not originally include a
right to deprive animals of their life for the sake of food ; the
grant of flesh for that end was only given at the deluge. And
that they should yet have thought it proper and becoming to
shed the blood of animals merely to express a religious idea,
nay, should have regarded that as so emphatically the appro-
priate way of worshipping God, that for ages it seems to have
formed the more peculiar medium of approach to Him, can
never be rationally accounted for without something on the
part of God directing them to such a course. 3. Finally, the
theories now under consideration are still further objectionable,
in that they are confronted by a specific fact, which was evi-
dently recorded for the express purpose of throwing light uu

296 THE TYFOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the original worship of fallen man, and with which their advo-
cates have never been able to reconcile them — the fact of Abel's
accepted offering from the flock, as contrasted with the rejection
of Cain's from the produce of the field.1 The offerings of the
two brothers differed, we are told in the Epistle to the Hebrews,
and the account in Genesis implies as much, not only in regard
to the outward oblation — the one being a creature with life,
the other without it — but also in the principle which moved the
two brothers respectively to present them. That principle in
Abel was faith ; not this, therefore, but something else, in Cain.
And as it was faith which both rendered Abel's sacrifice in
itself more excellent than Cain's, and drew down upon it the
seal of Heaven's approval, the kind of faith meant must obvi-
ously have been something more than a mere general belief in
the being of God, or His readiness to accept an offering of
service from the hands of men. Faith in that sense must have

J been possessed by him who offered amiss, as well as by him
who offered with acceptance. It must have been a more special

' exercise of faith which procured the acceptance of Abel — faith
having respect not simply to the obligation of approaching God
with some kind of offering, but to the duty of doing so with a
sacrifice like that actually rendered, of the flock or the herd.
But whence could such faith have come, if there had not been
a testimony or manifestation of God for it to rest upon, which
the one brother believingly apprehended, and the other scorn-
fully slighted ? We see no way of evading this conclusion,
without misinterpreting and doing violence to the plain import
of the account of Scripture on the subject. Taking this in its
obvious and natural meaning, Cain is presented to- our view as
a child of nature, not of grace — as one obeying the impulse and
direction only of reason, and rejecting the more explicit light
of faith as to the kind of service he presented to his Maker.
His oblation is an undoubted specimen of what man could do
in his fallen state to originate proper ideas of God, and give
fitting expression to these in outward acts of worship. But
unhappily for the advocates of nature's sufficiency in the matter,
it stands condemned in the inspired record as a presumptuous
and disallowed act of will-worship. Abel, on the other hand,

1 Gen. iv. ; Heb. xi. 4.

SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. "07

appears as one who through grace had become a child of faith,
ami by faith first spiritually discerning the mind of God, then
reverently following the course it dictated, by presenting that
more excellent sacrifice (irkeiova Bvaiav) of the firstlings of the
flock, with which God was well pleased.

On every account, therefore, the conclusion seems inevitable,
that the institution of sacrifice must have been essentially of
divine origin ; for though we cannot appeal to any record of its
direct appointment by God, yet there are notices concerning
xificial worship which cannot be satisfactorily explained on
the supposition, in any form, of its merely human origin. There
is a recorded fact, however, which touches the very borders of
the subject, and which, we may readily perceive, furnished a
divine foundation on which a sacrificial worship, such as is men-
tioned in Scripture, might be built. It is the fact noticed at the
close of God's interview with our first parents after the fall :
' And unto Adam also, and to his wife, did the Lord God make
coats of skin, and clothed them.' The painful sense of naked-
ness that oppressed them after their transgression, was the
natural offspring of a consciousness of sin — an instinctive fear
lest the unveiled body should give indication of the evil thoughts
and dispositions which now lodged within. Hence, to get relief
to this uneasy feeling, they made coverings for themselves of
Buch thing eemed best adapted to the purpose, out of that

kble world winch had been freely granted for their use.
They girded themselves about with fig-leaves. J Jut they soon
found that this covering proved of little avail to hide their shame,

where most of all they needed to have it hidden ; it left them
miserably exposed to the just condemnation of their offended
God. H a real and valid covering should be obtained, sufficient

relieve them of all uneasiness, God Himself must provide it.
And so He actually did. As soon as the promise of mercj bad

in disclosed to the offenders, and the constitution of mingled
goodness and severity brought in. He made coats to clothe them
with, and these coats of skins. But clothing so obtain* 1 argued
the sacrifice of life in the animal that furnished them ; and thus,
through the death of an inferior yet innocent living creature,
was the Deeded relief brought to their disquieted and fearful
bosoms. The outward and corporeal here manifestly had re-

208 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

spect to the inward and spiritual. The covering of their naked-
ness was a gracious token from the hand of God, that the sin
which had alienated them from Him, and made them conscious
of uneasiness, was henceforth to be in His sight as if it were
not ; so that in covering their flesh, He at the same time covered
their consciences. If viewed apart from this higher symbolical
aim, the outward act will naturally appear small and unworthy
of God ; but so to view it were to dissever it from the very
reason of its performance. It was done purposely to denote the
covering of guilt from the eye of Heaven — an act which God
alone could have done. But He did it, as we have seen, by a
medium of death, by a sacrifice of life in those creatures which
men were not yet permitted to kill for purposes of food, and in
connection with a constitution of grace which laid open the
prospect of recovered life and blessing to the fallen. Surely it
is not attributing to the venerable heads of the human family,
persons who had so recently walked with God in paradise, an
incredible power of spiritual discernment, or supposing them to
stretch unduly the spiritual import of this particular action of
God, if we should conceive them turning the divine act into a
ground of obligation and privilege for themselves, and saying,
Here is Heaven's own finger pointing out the way for obtaining
relief to our guilty consciences ; the covering of our shame is to
be found by means of the skins of irrational creatures, slain in
our behalf ; their life for our lives, their clothing of innocence
for our shame ; and we cannot err, we shall but show our faith
in the mercy and forgiveness we have experienced, if, as often
as the sense of shame and guilt returns upon our consciences,
we follow the footsteps of the Lord, and, by a renewed sacrifice
of life, clothe ourselves anew with His own appointed badge of
acquittal and acceptance.

We are not to be understood as positively affirming that our
first parents and their believing posterity reasoned thus, or that
they actually had no more of instruction to guide them. We
merely say, that they may quite naturally have so reasoned, and
that we have no authority from the inspired record to suppose
that any further instruction was communicated. Indeed, nothing
more seems strictly necessary for the first beginnings of a sacri-
ficial worship. And it was still but the age for beginnings : in

SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. 209

what was tanglit and done, we should expect to find only the
simplest forms of truth and duty. The Gospel, in its clearer
announcements, even the law with its specific enactments, would
then have been out of place. All that was absolutely required,
and all that might be fairly expected, was some natural and ex-
pressive act of Qod toward men, laying, when thoughtfully con-
sidered, the foundation of a religious service toward Him. The
claims of the Sabbatical institution, and <^ the marriage union,
had a precisely similar foundation — the one in God's personal
resting on the seventh day, hallowing and Messing it ; the other
in His formation of the first wife out of the first husband. It
was simply the divine procedure in these cases which formed the
ground of man's obligations; because that procedure was essen-
tially a revelation of the mind and will of Godhead for the
guidance of the rational beings who, being made in God's image,
were to find their glory and their well-being in appropriating His
acts, and copying after His example. So here, God's funda-
mental act in removing and covering out of sight the shame of
conscious guilt in the first offenders, would both naturally and
rightfully be viewed as a revelation of God, teaching them how,
in henceforth dealing with Him, they were to proceed in effecting
the removal of guilt, and appearing, notwithstanding it, in the
presence of God. They found, in this divine act, the key to a
justified condition, and an acceptable intercourse wjth Heaven.
J lad they not done so, it would have been incapable of rational
explanation, how a believing Abel should so soon have appeared
iii possession of it. Yet it could not have been rendered so
palpable as to obtrude itself on the carnal and unbelieving:
Otherwise it would scarcely be less capable" of explanation, how
a self-willed Cain should so soon have ventured to disregard it.
The ground of dissension between the two brothers must have
:i of a somewhat narrower and more debateable character,
than if an explicit and formal direction had been given. And
in the divine act referred to — viewed in its proper light, and
taken in connection with the whole circumstances of the time —
there was precisely what might have tended to originate both
i alts: enough of light to instruct the humble heart of faith,
mainly intent on having pardon of sin and peace with God, and
yet not too much to leave proud and unsanctilied nature without

300 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

an excuse for following a course more agreeable to its own in-
clinations.1

3. We thus hold sacrifice — sacrifice in the higher sense, not
as expressive of dependence and thankfulness merely, but as
connected with sin and forgiveness, expiatory sacrifice — to have
been, as to its foundation, of divine origin. It had its rise in an
act of God, done for the express purpose of relieving guilty con-
sciences of their sense of shame and confusion ; and from the
earliest periods of recorded worship it stands forth to our view
as the religious solemnity in which faith had its most peculiar
exercise, and for which God bestowed the tokens of His accept-
ance and blessing. For the discussion of some collateral points
belonging to the subject, and the disposal of a few objections,
we refer to the Appendix.2 And we now proceed here briefly
to inquire what sacrifice, as thus originating and thus presented,
symbolically expressed. What feelings on the part of the
worshipper, what truths on the part of God, did it embody ?

Partly, indeed, the inquiry has been answered already. It

1 Substantially the correct view was presented of this subject in a work
by Dr. Croly, though, like several other things in the same volume, attended
with the twofold disadvantage, of not being properly grounded, and of beiug
encumbered with some untenable positions : — ' God alone is described as in
act, and His only act is that of clothing the two criminals. The whole
passage is but one of many in which a rigid adherence to the text is the
way of safety. The literal meaning at once exalts the rite and illustrates
its purposes. . . . Adam in paradise has no protection from the divine
wrath, but he needs none ; he is pure. In his hour of crime he finds the
fatal difference between good and evil, feels that he requires protection from
the eye of justice, and makes an ineffectual effort to supply that protection
by his own means. But the expedient which cannot be supplied by man,
is finally supplied by the divine interposition. God clothes him, and his
nakedness is the source of anguish and terror no more. The contrast of the
materials of his imperfect and perfect clothing is ecpaally impressive. Adam,
in his first consciousness of having provoked the divine displeasure, covers
himself with the frail produce of the ground, the branch and leaf ; but from
the period of forgiveness he is clothed with the substantial product of the
flock, the skin of the slain animal. If circumstances apparently so trivial
as the clothing of our original parents are stated, what other reason can be
assigned, than that they were not trivial, that they formed a marked feature
of the divine dispensation, and that they were important to be recorded for
the spiritual guidance of man?' — Divine Providence, pp. 194-196.

2 Appendix %/Q.

SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. 301

was impossible to conduct the discussion thus far without indi-
i iting the leading ideas involved in primitive sacrifice. It roust
be remembered, however, that we are still dealing with sacrifice

in its simplest and most elementary form — radically, no doubt,
the same as it was under the more complex and detailed arrange-
ments of the Mosaic ritual, but in comparison of that wanting
much in fulness and variety. As employed by the first race of
believing worshippers, a few leading points are all that it can
properly be regarded as embracing.

( 1.) Both from the manner of its origin, and its own essential
nature, as involving in every act of worship the sacrifice of a
creature's life, it bore impressive testimony to the sinfulness of
the offerer's condition. Those who presented it could not but
know that God was far from delighting in blood, and that death,
cither in man or beast, was not a thing in which He could be
supposed to take pleasure. The explicit connection of death,
also, with the first transgression, as the proper penalty of sin,
was peculiarly fitted to suggest painful and humiliating thoughts
in the minds of those who stood so near to the awful moment of
the fall. And when death, under God's own directing agencv,
was brought so prominently into the divine service, and every
act of worship, of the more solemn kind, carried in its bosom the
life-blood of an innocent creature, what more striking memorial
could they have had of the evil wrought in their condition by
sin? With such an element of blood perpetually mingling in
their services, they could not forget that they stood upon the
floor of a broken covenant, and were themselves ever incurring

anew the just desert of transgression.

(2.) Then, looking more particularly to the sanction and
encouragement of God given to such a mode of worshipping
Him, it bespoke their believing conviction of His reconcilable
and gracious disposition toward them, notwithstanding their
sinfulness. They gave here distinct and formal expression to
their faith, that as they needed mercy, so they recognised God
as ready to dispense it to those who humbly sought Him through
this channel of communion. Such a faith, indeed, had been pre-
sumption, the groundless conceit of nature's arrogancy or igno-
rance, if it had not had a divine foundation to rest upon, and
tokens of divine acceptance in the acts of service it rendered.

302 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

But these, as we have seen, it plainly had. So that a sacrificial
worship thus performed bore evidence as well to the just expec-
tations of mercy and forgiveness on the part of those who pre-
sented it, as to their uneasy sense of guilt and shame prompting
them to do- so.

(3.) But, looking again to the original ground and authority
of this sacrificial worship, — the act of God in graciously covering
the shame and guilt of sin, — and to the seal of acceptance after-
wards set so peculiarly and emphatically on it, the great truth
was expressed by it, on the part of God, that the taking away of
life stood essentially connected with' the taking away of sin ; or,
as expressed in later Scripture, that i without shedding of blood
there is no remission of sins.' In accordance with the general
character of the primeval constitution of things, this truth comes
out, not as a formal enunciation of principle, or an authoritative
enactment of Heaven, but as an embodied fact ; a fact, in the
first instance, of God's hand, significantly indicating His mind
and will, and then believingly contemplated, acted upon, sub-
stantially re-enacted by His sincere worshippers, with His clearly
marked approval. The form may be regarded as peculiar, but
not so the truth enshrined in it. This is common to all times ;
and after holding a primary place in every phase of a prepara-
tory religion, it rose at last to a position of transcendent import-
ance in the work and kingdom of Christ. How far Adam and
his immediate descendants might be able to descry, under their
imperfect forms of worship, and the accompanying intimations
of recovery, the ultimate ground in this respect of faith and hope
for sinful men, can be to us only matter of vague conjecture
or doubtful speculation. Their views would, perhaps, consider-
ably differ, according as their faith was more or less clear in its
discernment, more or less lively in its perceptions of the truth
couched under the symbolical acts and revelations of God. But
unless more specific information was given them than is found
in the sacred record (and we have no warrant to suppose there
was more), the anticipations formed even by the most enlightened
of those primitive believers, regarding the way and manner in
which the blood of sacrifice was ultimately to enter into the plan
of God, must have been comparatively vague and indefinite.
(4.) For us, however, who can read the symbol before us by

SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. 303

the clear light of the Gospel, and from the high vantage-ground
of a finished redemption can look hack upon the temporary in-
stitutions that foreshadowed it, there is neither darkness nor
uncertainty respecting the prophetic import of the primeval rite
of sacrifice. We perceive there in the germ the fundamental
truth of that scheme of grace which was to provide for the com-
plete and final restoration of a seed of blessing — the truth of a
suffering Mediator, giving I lis life :i ransom for many. Here,
again, we behold the ends of revelation mutually embracing and
contributing to throw light on each other. And as amid the
perfected glories of Messiah's kingdom all appears clustering
around the Lamb that was slain, and doing homage to Him for
His matchless humiliation and triumphant victory, so the earliest
worship of believing humanity points to His coming sacrifice as
the one ground of hope and security to the fallen. At a subse-
quent period, when believers were furnished with a fuller revela-
tion and a more complicated worship, symbolical representations
were given of many other and subordinate parts of the work of
redemption. But when that worship existed in its simplest form,
and embodied only the first elements of the truth, it was meet
that what was ultimately to form the groundwork of the whole
should have been alone distinctly represented. And we shall
not profit, as we should, by the contemplation of that one rite
which stands so prominently out in the original worship of the
believing portion of mankind, if it does not tend to deepen upon
our minds the incomparable worth and importance of a crucified
Redeemer, as the wisdom of God and the power of God unto
salvation.

CHAPTER FIFTH.

THE MARRIAGE RELATION AND THE SABBATICAL INSTITUTION.

The two ordinances of mama ere and the Sabbath are here
coupled together, as having so much in common, that they
alike belonged to the primeval constitution of things, and were
alike intended, without any formal alteration, to transmit their
validity to times subsequent to the fall. They carried an
import, and involved obligations, which should be co-extensive
with the generations of mankind. Yet with this general agree-
ment there is a specific difference, which is of moment as re-
gards the point of view from which the subjects must here be
contemplated. The formation of a partner for Adam out of
a portion of his own frame, and the junction of the two under
the direct sanction of their Maker, so as to form in a manner
one flesh, however important in a social and economical respect,
however fitted also to bear indirectly on the higher interests
of the world, was still not formally of a religious nature. For
the world's secular wellbeing alone there were reasons amply
sufficient to account for its divine Author resorting to such a
method, when bringing into being the first family pair, and in
them laying the foundations of the world's social existence.
For it was by an instructive and appropriate act, entwined
with the very beginnings of social life on earth, that the essen-
tial conditions must be exhibited — if exhibited so as to tell with
permanent effect — of its healthful organization and comely
order. And so far from being, as some have alleged, an un-
becoming representation of the divine character, a lowering
of the divine majesty, that Eve should have been said to be
formed out of Adam's side, and thereafter presented to him as
his own flesh and bone, — on account of which they would turn
the whole narrative into a myth, — it will be found, when duly
considered and viewed in the light of the important interests
depending on it, every way worthy of the wise foresight and

30i

THE MARRIAGE RELATION. 305

paternal goodness of Deity. He has thus interwoven with the
closing act of creation an imperishable moral lesson, — made it,
indeed, the perpetual and impressive symbol of the great truth,
— that the fundamental relation in family life was to consist in
the union of one man and one woman ; and these so bound
together as that, while distinctions as to authority and power
on the one side, and subordination and dependence on the other,
should exist between them, they should still be regarded as a
social unity — corporate manhood. So far from the divine pro-
cedure in this overstepping the bounds of what was fit and
needful, the records of history are not long in furnishing mourn-
ful evidence that it proved all too little to secure the end in
view ; it failed to perpetuate the intended unity and good order
of families. Even among the chosen people, the practical infer-
ence drawn from it with instinctive sagacity and true spiritual
insight bv the first Adam (' Therefore shall a man leave father
and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one
flesh ') l came to be so much lost sight of, that it required to
be announced afresh, and with greater stringency imposed, by
the second Adam.2

The scriptural evidence for the deep significance of the
divine act in respect to the formation of Eve, and the nature
of the marriage union founded on it, is both explicit and
ample. But in the circumstances of the parents themselves of
the human family, and also of those of their posterity who lived
in the earlier ages of the world, it could scarcely have occurn id
to them to carry that significance into any sphere beyond that
of the family life. Nothing in the prospect as yet held out to
them of a restored condition, was fitted to give their ideas so
definite a shape as to suggest a spiritual relationship formed
after the model of this natural one ; and in the religion of patri-
archal, or even much later times, scarcely anything is found
that bears this specific impress. A kind of marriage union,
indeed, is implied to have sprung up between God and His
people, as the result of His fuller manifestation of Himself to
them, and His closer intimacy with them in tin- wilderness,
since their defection from His service is represented under the
light of an adultery or whoredom/' — a style of representation

1 Gen. ii. 21. 2 Matt. xix. 5, G. 8 Num. xiv. 88.

VOL. I. D

308 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

which became of frequent occurrence in the writings of the
later prophets.1 In one or two passages also the Lord expressly
takes to Himself the name of the husband of Israel, or speaks
of Himself as havins; been married to them.2 In the Book of
Canticles this relation even forms the scene of a kind of spiri-
tual drama ; and in the 45th Psalm the hero of the piece, the
King of Zion, is even represented as standing formally related
to a queen who shares with Him in the honours of the king-
dom, and by whom can only be understood the true Israel of
God. It is not to be denied, however, that this series of Old
Testament representations took its formal rise in the covenant-
engagement entered into at Sinai, and merely availed itself of
the marriage-bond as one peculiarly adapted for portraying the
obligations and advantages connected with fidelity to the engage-
ment, or the guilt and folly of violating it. In none of the
passages does there seem any distinct reference to the primeval
union in Eden ; and rather as a fitting emblem, than a type in
the proper sense, is the marriage relation in such cases employed
— much as also the relations of a pastor to his Hock,3 of a hus-
bandman to his vineyard,4 or of a king to his subjects.5

We are not therefore disposed to connect with the religious
worship or hopes which came in after the fall, any distinct refer-
ence to the marriage relation, viewed as growing out of Eve's
derivation from Adam, and subjection to him. In that particular
form, and as an ideal pattern for the nourishment of faith and
hope, it belongs to New rather than Old Testament times — the
times, namely, when the Lord from heaven stands distinctly re-
vealed in the character of the second Adam. As such, He also
must have His spouse, and has it in part now; but shall have it
in completeness hereafter, in the company of faithful souls who
have been washed from their sins in His blood — the elect
Church, which in all its members grows out of His root, lives
by His life, and is called at once to share in His glory, and to
minister as an handmaid to His will. So that the mystery
of the primeval spouse (' bone of Adam's bone, flesh of his

1 Isa. lvii. 3 ; Jer. iii. 9, xiii. 27 ; Ezek. xvi. xxiii. ; Hos. i. ii., etc.

2 Isa. liv. 5 ; Jer. iii. Ii. 8 Ps. xxiii. ; Ezek. xxxvi. ; Zeck. xL

4 Ps. Ixxx. ; Isa. v. 1-7 ; Ezek. xv.

5 1 Sam viii. 7 ; Ps. ii., etc.

THE SABBATICAL INSTITUTION. 307

flesh') may justly bo regarded as the mystery of the Church in
her relation to Christ.1 But in this special aspect of the matter,
— an aspect that belongs to creation rather than to strictly his-
torical times, — it must he allowed to stand in some respects
apart from the typical relations with which we have now pro-
perly to deal, and which all in a greater or less degree contri-
buted to mould the religious view- and feelings of fallen men.

It is otherwise in the respects now mentioned with the Sab-
batical institution, which also belongs to the primeval constitu-
tion of things. This at once bore a directly religious aspect, and
pointed to the future as well as the present. The record given
of it tells us that 'on the seventh day God ended His work
which lie had made: and lie rested on the seventh day from
all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh
day, and sanctified it ; because that in it He had rested from
all His work which God created and made.'2 This procedure
of God appears in such immediate contact with the work of
creation (for in that respect the passage admits but of one fair
interpretation), that the bearing it was intended to have on
man's views and obligations must primarily have had respect to
his original destination ; and if designed to lay the foundation
of a stated order, this must have been one perfectly suited to
the paradisiacal state. Yet a slight reflection might have sufficed
to convince any thoughtful mind, that whatever significance it
might have for the occupants of such a state, that could not be
lost, but must even have been deepened and increased, by the
circumstances of their fall from it.

In the procedure itself of God there may be noted a three-
fold stage, each carrying a distinct and important meaning.
First, the rest itself: l He rested on the seventh day from all
His work ;' and in Ex. xxxi. 17, the yet stronger expression
is ased, of God's refn king Himself on that day. Figurative
language this must, no doubt, be understood to be, — for ' the
Creator of the end- of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary,'
— yet it is not the less expressive of a great truth, and one just
cognisable by man as the acts of creative energy by which it
was preceded. What was it, indeed, but the proper complement

of creation — the immediate result at which it aimed, and in which,
1 Eph. v. 80-82 ; 2 Cur. xi. i' ; Rev. xix. 7, xxi. 2. 2 Ceil. ii. 'J, 0.

308 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

as by an appropriate act, the seal of Heaven was set on its
beauty and completeness ? The divine Architect is presented to
our view at the close of His creative work, which had reached
its consummation in the appearance and delegated lordship of
man, looking with complacence on the product of His hands, —
taking it, as it were, to His bosom, and in the freshness of its
joy and the prospect of its goodly order finding satisfaction to
Himself. How near does not this show God to be to His crea-
tures— in particular to the rational and spiritual portion of them ?
And must there not have been on their part the response of an
intelligent appreciation and living fellowship % Must not man,
endowed as he was with God's likeness, and crowned with glory
and honour as God's representative, here also have communion
with his Maker % How could he fail to do so ? As it was his
calling to enter into God's work — to take it up, in a manner,
where God left it, and carry it forward to its destined results ;
so it was his privilege to enter into God's rest — making this in
a sense his own, and thereby rendering earth both as to action
and enjoyment the reflex of heaven.

But this was not left to be simply inferred ; for if even the
first stage of this divine act has respect to man, still more has
the second, which points directly and exclusively to him : 'And
God blessed the seventh day.' This blessing of the day is not
to be confounded with the sanctifying of it, which immediately
follows, as if the meaning were, God blessed it by sanctifying
it. The blessing is distinct from the sanctification, and is, so to
speak, the settling of a special dowry on it for every one who
should give due heed to its proper end and object. Let man —
the divine act of blessing virtually said — only enter into God's
mind, and tread in His footsteps, by resting every seventh day
from his works, and he shall undoubtedly find it to his profit ;
the blessing, which is life for evermore, shall descend on him.
What he may lose for the moment in productive employment,
shall be amply compensated by the refreshment it will bring to
his frame — by the enlargement and elevation of his soul — above
all, by the spiritual fellowship and interest in God which be-
comes the abiding portion of those who follow Him in their
ways, and perpetually return to Him as the supreme rest of
their souls.

THE SABBATICAL INSTITUTION. 300

Then, the last stage in the procedure of God on this occa-
sion indicates how the two earlier ones were to be secured :
' lie sanctified it,' set it sacredly apart from the others. Having
appointed it to .t distinctive end, He conferred on it a distinctive
character, that His creature, man, might from time to time b
doing in his line of things what the Creator had already done
in His — might, after six successive days of work, take one to
reinvigorate his frame, to reflect calmly on the past, and view
the part he has taken and the relations he occupies on the out-
ward and visible theatre of the world, in the light of the spiritual
and the eternal. It was to be his calling and his destiny on
earth, not simply to work, but to work as a reasonable and
moral being, after the example of his Maker, for specific ends.
And for this he needed seasons of quiet repose and thoughtful
consideration) not less than time and opportunity for active
labour ; as, otherwise, he could neither properly enjoy the work
of his hands, nor obtain for the higher part of his nature that
nobler good which is required to satisfy it. God, therefore,
when he had finished the work of creation by making man,
sanctified the seventh day — His own seventh, but mans first ;
for man had not first to work and then to reap, but, as God's
vicegerent, nature's king and high-priest, could at once enter
into his Maker's heritage of blessing. And henceforth, in the
career that lay before him, ever and anon returning from the
field of active labour assigned him in cultivating and subduing
the earth, he must on the hallowed day of rest gather in his
thoughts and desires from the world, and, retiring into God
as his sanctuary, hold with Him a Sabbatism of peaceful and
blessed communion.

The divine procedure, then, in every one of its stages,
plainly points to man, and aims at his participation in the like-
ness and enjoyment of God. 'With the Sabbath,' says Sar-
torius happily, and we rejoice and hail it as a token for good,
that such thoughts on the Sabbath are finding utterance in the
high places of Germany — ' with the Sabbath begins the sacred
history of man — the day on which he stood forth to bless God,
and, in company with Eve, entered on his divine calling upon
earth. The creation without the creation-festival, the world's
Unrest without rest in God, is altogether vain and transitory.

310 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

The sacred day appointed, blessed, consecrated by God, is that
from which the blessing and sanctification of the world and
time, of human life and human society, proceed. Nor is
anything more needed than the recognition of its original ap-
pointment and sacred destination, for our receiving the full
impression of its sanctity. How was it possible for the first
man ever to forget it ? From the very beginning was it written
upon his heart, Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it.' !
There is nothing new in such views. Substantially the same
interpretation that we have given is put on the original notice
in Genesis, in the Epistle to the Hebrews (ch. iv.), where the
record of God's rest at the close of creation is referred to as
the first form of the promise made to man of entering into God's
rest. The record, then, of what God in that respect did, was
a revelation. It embodied a call and a promise to man of high
fellowship with the Creator in His peculiar felicity, and con-
sequently inferred an obligation on man's part both to seek
the end proposed, and to seek it in the method of God's ap-
pointment. But did the obligation cease when man fell? or
was the promise cancelled ? Assuredly not — not, at least, after
the time that the introduction of an economy of grace laid open
for the fallen the prospect of a new inheritance in God. So
far from having lost its significance or its value, the Creator's
Sabbatism then acquired fresh meaning and importance, and
became so peculiarly adapted to the altered condition of the
world, that we cannot but regard it as having from the first
contemplated the physical and moral evils that were to issue
from the fall. In the language of Hengstenberg, with whom
we gladly concur on this branch of the subject, though on
several others we shall be constrained to differ from him, ' It
presupposes work, and such work as has a tendency to draw us
away from God. It is the remedy for the injuries we are apt
to incur through this work. If anything is clear, it is the con-
nection between the Sabbath and the fall. The work which
needs intermission, lest the divine life should be imperilled by
it, is not [we would rather say, is not so much] the cheerful
and pleasant employment of which we read in Gen. ii. 15 ; it
is [rather] the oppressive and degrading toil spoken of in Gen.
1 Sartorius iiber den alt unci neu-Test. cultus, p. 17.

THE SABBATICAL INSTITUTION. oil

iii. 19, work done in the sweat of the brow, upon a soil that
brings forth thorns and thistles.'1 We would put the state-
ment comparatively rather than absolutely; for the rest of God
being held on the first seventh day of the world's existence,
and the day being immediately consecrated and blessed, it must
have had respect to the place and occupation of man even in
paradise. Why should work there be supposed to have differed
in kind from work elsewhere and since ? There could be room
only for a difference in degree ; and being work from its very
nature that led the soul to aim at specific objects, and put forth
continuous efforts on what is outward, it required to be met
by a stated periodical institution, that would recall the thoughts
and feelings of the soul more within itself. Man's perfection
in that original state was only a relative one. It needed certain
correctives and stimulants to secure the continued enjoyment
of the good belonging to it. It needed, in particular, perpetual
access to the tree of life for the preservation of the bodily, and
an ever-returning Sabbatism for that of the spiritual life. But
if such a Sabbatism was required even for man's wellbeing in
paradise, where the work was so light, and the order so beauti-
ful, how could it be imagined that the sabbatical institution
might be either safely or lawfully disregarded in a world of
sorrow, temptation, and hardship?

Was there really, however, any sabbatical institution ?
There is no command respecting it in this portion of the in-
spired record. And may not the mention there made of God's
keeping the Sabbath, and blessing and sanctifying the day,
have been made simply with a prospective reference to the
precept that was ultimately to be imposed on the Israelites?
So it has been alleged with endless frequency by those who
can find no revelation of the divine will, and no obligation or
moral duty excepting what comes in the authoritative form of
a command; and it is still substantially reiterated by Ileiig-
stenberg, who certainly cannot be charged with such a blunt-

- of spiritual discernment. We meet the allegation with

the statement that lias already been repeatedly urged — that it

was not yet the time for the formal enactments of law, and

that it was by other means man was to learn God's mind and

1 Ueber ■ i Tag, 'Us Herrn, i». 12.

312 THE TYrOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

his own duty. The ground of obligation lay in the divine
act ; the rule of duty was exhibited in the divine example ; for
these were disclosed to men from the first, not to gratify an
idle curiosity, but for the express purpose of leading them to
know and do what is agreeable to the will of God. If such
means were not sufficient to speak with clearness and authority
tc men's consciences, then it may be affirmed that the first race
of mankind were free from all authoritative direction and con-
trol whatever. They were not imperatively bound either to
fear God or to regard man ; for, excepting in the manner now
stated, no general obligations of service were laid on them.
But to suppose this ; to suppose, even in regard to what is
written of the original Sabbatism of God, that it did not bear
directly upon the privileges and duties of the very first members
of the human family, is in truth to make void that portion of
revelation — to treat it as if, where it stands, it were a superfluity
or a blemish* We cannot so regard it. We hold by the truth-
fulness and natural import of the divine record. And doing
this, we are shut up to the conclusion, that it was at first de-
signed and appointed by God that mankind should sanctify
every returning seventh day, as a season of comparative rest
from worldly labour, of spiritual contemplation and religious
employment, that so they might cease from their own works
and enter into the rest of God.

But we shall not pursue the subject further at present. We
even leave unnoticed some of the objections that have been
raised against the existence of a primeval Sabbath, as the sub-
ject must again return, and in a more controversial aspect, when
we come to consider the place assigned to the law of the Sabbath
in the revelation from Sinai, It is enough, at this stage of our
inquiry, to have exhibited the foundation laid for the perpetual
celebration of a seventh-day Sabbath, in the original act of God
at the close of His creation work. In that we have a founda-
tion broad and large as the theatre of creation itself, and the
general interests of humanity, free from all local restrictions
and national peculiarities. That in the infancy of the world,
and during the ages of a remote antiquity, there would be
much simplicity in the mode of its observance, may readily be
supposed. Indeed, where all was so simple, both in the state

THE SABBATICAL INSTITUTION. 313

of society and the institutions of worship, the symbolical act
itself of resting from ordinary work, and in connection with
that, the habit of recognising the authority of God, and realiz-
ing the divine call to a participation in the blessed rest of the
Creator, must have constituted no inconsiderable part of the
practical observance of the day. And that this also in process
of time should have fallen into general desuetude, is only what
might have been expected from the fearful depravity and law-
lessness which overspread the earth as a desolation. "When
men daringly cast off the fear of God Himself, they would
naturally make light of the privilege and duty set before them
of entering into His rest. And considering how partial and
imperfect the observance of the day, in the earlier periods of the
world's history, was likely to become, it is not to be wondered
at, that, beside the original record of its divine origin and autho-
ritative obligation, traces of its existence should be found only
in some scattered notices of history, and in the widespread
sacredness of the number seven, which has left its impress on
the religion and literature of nearly every nation of antiquity.
But however neglected or despised, the original fact remains for
the light and instruction of the world in all ages ; and there
perpetually comes forth from it a call from every one who has
ears to hear, to sanctify a weekly rest unto the Lord, and rise to
the enjoyment of His blessing.

CHAPTER SIXTH.

TYPICAL THINGS IN HISTORY DURING THE PROGRESS OF
THE FIRST DISPENSATION.

Having now considered the typical bearing of the fundamental
facts and symbolical institutions belonging to the first dispensa-
tion of grace, it remains that we endeavour to ascertain what
there might afterwards be evolved of a typical nature during
the progress of that dispensation, by means of the transactions
and events that took place under it. These, it was already
noted in our preliminary remarks, could only be employed to
administer instruction of a subsidiary kind. In their remoter
reference to Gospel times, as in their direct historical aspect,
they can rank no higher than progressive developments — not
laying a foundation, but proceeding on the foundation already
laid, and giving to some of the points connected with it a more
specific direction, or supplementing them with additional dis-
coveries of the mind and will of God. It is impossible here,
any more than in the subjects treated of in the preceding chap-
ters, to isolate entirely the portions that have a typical bearing
from others closely connected with them. And even in those
which exhibit something of the typical element, it can scarcely
be expected, at so early a period in the world's history, to possess
much of a precise and definite character ; for in type, as in
prophecy, the progress must necessarily have been from the
more general to the more particular. In tracing this progress,
we shall naturally connect the successive developments with
single persons or circumstances ; yet without meaning thereby
to indicate that these are in every respect to be accounted
typical.

314

SECTION FIRST.

THE SEED OF PROMISE — ABEL, EXOCn.

The first distinct appearance of the typical in connection with
the period subsequent to the fall, is to be found in the case of
Abel ; but in that quite generally. Abel was the first member
of the promised seed ; and through him supplementary know-
ledge was imparted more especially in one direction, viz. in re-
gard to the principle of election, which was practically to discover
itself in connection with the original promise. That promise
itself, when read in the light of the instituted symbols of re-
ligion, might be perceived — if very thoughtfully considered — to
have implied something of an elective process; but the truth was
not clearly expressed. And it was most natural that the first
parents of the human family should have overlooked what but
obscurely intimated a limitation in the expected good. They
would readily imagine, when a scheme of grace was introduced,
which gave promise of a complete destruction of the adversary,
with the infliction only of a partial injury on the woman's seed,
that the whole of their offspring should attain to victory over the
power of evil. This joyous anticipation affect ingly discovers
itself in the exclamation of Eve at the birth of her first-born
I, 'I have gotten a man from (or, as it should rather lie, with)
the Lord' — gratefully acknowledging the hand of God in giving
her, as she thought, the commencement of that seed which was
assured through divine grace of a final triumph. This she
reckoned a real getting — gain in the proper sense — calling her
child by a name that expressed this idea (Cain) ; and she evi-
dently did so by regarding it as the precious gift of God, the
inning and the pledge of the ascendency that was to be won
over the malice of the tempter.1 Never was mother destined to

1 I think it quite impossible, in the circumstances, thai the faith of Ere
should have gone further than this, as the promise "t recovery had as yet

nurd only the most general aspect ; and though it might well have been
understoed lo depeud upon the grace and power of (Jod for its accomplish*

3:3

316 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

receive a sorer disappointment. She did not want faith in the
divine word ; but her faith was still without knowledge, and she
must learn by painful experience how the plan of God for man's
recovery was to be wrought out. A like ignorance, though tend-
ing now in the opposite direction, was perhaps manifested at the
birth of Abel, whose name (breath, emptiness) seems, as Delitzsch
has remarked, to have proceeded from her felt regard to the
divine curse, as that given to Cain did from a like regard to the
divine promise. It is possible that, between the births of the two
brothers, what she had seen of the helpless and suffering con-
dition of infancy in the first-born may have impressed the mind
of Eve with such a sense of the evils entailed upon her offspring
by the curse, as to have rendered her for the time forgetful of
the better things disclosed in the promise. It is also possible,
and every way probable, that the name by which this child is
known to history, and which is not, as in the case of Cain, ex-
pressly connected with his birth, may have been occasioned bv
his unhappy fate, and expressed the feelings of vexation and
disappointment which it awakened in the bosoms of his parents.
However it might be, the result at least showed how little the
operations of grace were to pursue the course that might seem
accordant with the views and feelings of nature. In particular,
it showed that, so far from the whole offspring of the woman

ment, yet who, from the revelations actually given, could have anticipated
these to manifest themselves in the birth of Jehovah Himself as a babe ?
The supposition of Baumgarten, — who here revives the old explanation, ' I
have gotten a man, Jehovah,' — that Eve thought she saw in Cain 'the
redeeming and coming God,' is arbitrary and incredible. The nirv J"IN

t : ■«

should be taken as in ch. v. 24, vi. 9, xliii. 16, Judg. i. 16, with, in fellow-
ship with, the Lord ; or as in Judg. viii. 7, with, with the help of The
former idea seems to be the more natural one, as in that sense also the nx
is more frequently used. The assertion of Dr. Pye Smith {Testimony, vol. i.
p. 228), that there ' seems no option to an interpreter who is resolved to
follow the fair and strict grammatical signification of the words before him,
but to translate the passage, I have obtained a man, Jehovah,' is greatly
too strong, and against the judgment of the best Hebrew scholars. He is
himself obliged to repudiate the sense which such a rendering yields, as
embodying too gross a conception ; and the idea which he thinks Eve
meant to express of 'something connected with the Divine Being' in the
child produced, is simply what is conveyed by the perfectly legitimate ren-
dering we have preferred.

THE SEED OF PROMISE. 317

being included, there was from the first to pervade the divine
plan a principle of selection, in virtue of which a portion only,
and that by no means the likeliest, according to the estimation
of nature, were to inherit the blessing; while the rest should
fall in with the designs of the tempter, and be reckoned to him
for a seed of cursing. Abel, therefore, in his acceptance with
God, in his faith respecting the divine purposes, and his pre-
sentation of offerings that drew down the divine favour, stands
as the type of a chosen seed of blessing — a seed that was
ultimately to have its rool and its culmination in Him who was
to be in a sense altogether peculiar the child of promise. In
I lain, on the other hand, the impersonation of nature's pride,
waywardness, and depravity, there appeared a representative
of that unhappy portion of mankind who should espouse the
interest of the adversary, and seek by unhallowed means to
establish it in the world.

The brief notices of antediluvian history are evidently framed
for the purpose of exhibiting the antagonistic state ami ten-
dencies of these two seeds, and of rendering manifest the mighty
difference which God's work of grace was destined to make in
the character and prospects of man. The name given by Eve
to her third son (Seth, appointed), with the reason assigned for
it, ' For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead
of Abel, whom Cain slew,' bespoke the insight the common
mother of mankind had now obtained into this mournful division
in her offspring. < lain she regards as having, in a manner,

■ I to belong to her seed ; he had become too plainly identi-
lied with that of the adversary. lie seems now to her view to
Btand at the head of a God-opposing interest in the world; and
as in contrast to him, the destroyer of the true seed, God is seen
mercifully providing another in its room.1 So that there were

1 It is to I"' noted, however, that both the parents of tin- human family,
Adam aa well as Eve .-uc associated with this aeed of blessing. It [a a cir-
enmstance that has beefl too much overlooked ; but for tin- very purp
marking it, a fresh commencement is made at Gen. v. of the genealogical

chain that links together Adam and Christ : ' This i.^ tin- book of the gene-
rations of Adam. In the day that God Created man, in tin- lik' of God
mad.- Se him. . . . And Adam lived an hundred and thirtj years, and
it a son in hifl own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth:'
— aa if his | before this were not to be reckoned — the child of gTAOtt

318 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

again the two seeds in the world, each taking root, and bringing
forth fruit after its kind. But how different ! On the one
hand appears the Cainite section, smitten with the curse of sin,
yet proudly shunning the path of reconciliation — retiring to a
distance from the emblems of God's manifested presence — build-
ing a city, as if to lighten, by the aid of human artifice and
protection, the evils of a guilty conscience and a blighted con-
dition— cultivating with success the varied elements of natural
strength and worldly greatness, inventing instruments of music
and weapons of war, trampling under foot, as seemed good to
the flesh, the authority of Heaven and the rights of men, and at
last, by deeds of titanic prowess and violence, boldly attempting
to bring heaven and earth alike under its sway.1 On the other

had perished, and the other in a spiritual sense was not. Adam, therefore,
is here distinctly placed at the head of a spiritual offspring — himself, with
his partner, the first link in the grand chain of blessing. And the likeness
in which he begat his son — ' his own image' — must not be limited, as it
too often is, to the corruption that now marred the purity of his nature — as
if Ms image stood simply in contrast to God's. It is as the parental head of
the whole lineage of believers that he is represented, and such a sharp con-
trast would here especially be out of place.

1 Gen. iv. 13-24, vi. 4-6. It is in connection with this later develop-
ment of evil in the Cainites that Lamech's song is introduced, and with
special reference to that portion of his family who were makers of instru-
ments in brass and iron — instruments, no doubt, chiefly of a warlike kind.
It is only by viewing the song in that connection that we perceive its full
meaning and its proper place, as intended to indicate that the evil was
approaching its final stage : ' And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and
Zillah. hear my voice ; ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech : for
men (the word is quite indefinite in the original, and may most fitly be
rendered in the plural) I slay for my wound, and young men for my hurt :
for Cain is avenged seven times, and Lamech seventy times seven.' He
means apparently, that, with such weapons as he now had at command,
he could execute at will deeds of retaliation and slaughter. So that his
song may be regarded, to use the words of Drechsler, ' as an ode of triumph
on the invention of the sword. He stands at the top of the Cainite develop-
ment, from thence looks back upon the past, and exults at the height it
has reached. How far has he got ahead of Cain ! what another sort of
ancestor he ! No longer needing to look up in feebleness to God for pro-
tection, he can provide more amply for it himself than God did for Cain's ;
and he congratulates his wives on being the mothers of such sons. Thus
the history of the Cainites began with a deed of murder, and here it ends
with a song of murder.'

THE SEED OF PROMISE. 319

hand appears the woman's seed of promise, seeking to establish
and propagate itself in the earth by the fear of God, and the
more regular celebration of His worship,1 trusting for its support
in the grace and blessing of God, as the other did in the powers
and achievements of corrupt nature ; and so continuing un-
interrupted its line of godly descendants, yet against such
fearful odds, and at last with such a perilous risk of utter ex-
tinction, that divine faithfulness and love required to meet
violence with violence, and bring the conflict in its first form
to a close by the -sweeping desolation of the flood. It ter-
minated, as every such conflict must do, on the side of those
who stood in the promised grace and revealed testimony of
God. These alone have an abiding place ; and the triumph
of such as are opposed to them can be but for a moment.

This seed of the woman, however, — the seed that is given
to her as the mother of a believing and conquering offspring, —
is found, not only as to its existence, to be associated with a
principle of election, but also as to the relative place occupied
by particular members in its line. All have by faith an interest
in God, and in consequence triumph over the power of the
adversary. But some have a larger interest than others, and
attain to a higher victory. There was an election within the
election. So it appeared especially in the case of Enoch, the
seventh from Adam, and again in Noah, who, as they alone
of the antediluvians were endowed with the spirit of prophecy,
so they alone also are said to have ' walked with God,'* — an
expression never used of any who lived in later times, and
denoting the nearest and most confidential intercourse, as if
they had all but regained the old paradisiacal freedom of
communion with Heaven. And as the divine seal upon this
higher elevation of the life of God in their souls, they wer
both honoured with singular tokens of distinction — the one
having been taken, without tasting of death, to still nearer
fellowship with God, to abide in His immediate presence (' He
was not, for God took him'), while the other became under
God the saviour and father of a new world. Of the latter
we shall have occasion to speak separately, as there were con-
nected with his case other elements of a typical nature. But
1 Gun. iv. 26. 2 Gen. v. 22. vi. 'J.

320 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

in regard to Enoch, as the short and pregnant notice of his
life, and of his removal out of it, plainly indicates something
transcendently good and great, so, we cannot doubt, the con-
temporaries of the patriarch knew it to be such. They knew —
at least they had within their reach the means of knowing — that
in consideration of his eminent piety, and of the circumstances
of the time in which he lived, he was taken direct to a higher
sphere, without undergoing the common lot of mortality. That
there should have been but one such case during the whole
antediluvian period, could not but be regarded as indicating its
exceptional character, and stamping it the more emphatically as
a revelation from Heaven. Nor could the voice it uttered in
the ears of reflecting men sound otherwise than as a proclama-
tion that God was assuredly with that portion of the woman's
seed who served and honoured Him — that He manifested Him-
self to such, as a chosen people, in another manner than He did
to the world, and made them sure of a complete and final victory
over all the malice of the tempter and the evils of sin. If not
usually without death, yet notwithstanding it, and through it,
they should certainly attain to eternal life in the presence of
God.

In this respect Enoch — as being the most distinguished
member of the seed of blessing in its earlier division, and the
most honoured heir of that life which comes through the right-
eousness of faith — is undoubtedly to be viewed as a type of
Christ. Something he had in common with the line as a whole
— he was a partaker of that electing mercy and grace of God,
in virtue of which alone any could rise from the condemnation
of sin to the inheritance of life in the divine kingdom. But
apart from others in the same line, and above them, he passed
to the inheritance by a more direct and triumphant path — a
conqueror in the very mode of his transition from time to eter-
nity. These characteristics, which in Enoch's case were broadly
marked, are pre-eminently the characteristics of Christ, and in
the full and absolute sense could be found only in Him. He
is, incomparably beyond every other, the seed of the woman,
who in God's everlasting purpose was destined to bruise the
head of the tempter, and reverse the process of nature's corrup-
tion. In Him, as present from the first to the 'determinate

THE SEED OF PROMISE.

counsel and foreknowledge of God,' was the ultimate root of
such a seed to be found which should otherwise have had no
existence in the world. He therefore, beyond all others, was
the chosen of God, ' His elect in whom His soul delights.' And
though to the eye of a carnal and superficial world, which
judges only by the appearance, He wanted what seemed neces-
sary to justify His claim to such a position, yet lie in reality
gave the clearest proof of it, by a faith that never faltered in
the hardest trials, a righteousness free from every stain of im-
purity, and a life that could only for a moment underlie the
cloud of death, and even then could see no corruption, but
presently rose, as to its proper home, into the regions of eternal
light and glory.

With our eyes resting on this exalted object in the ends of
time, we have no difficulty in perceiving, that what appeared
of supernatural in such men as Abel and Enoch, only fore-
shadowed the higher and greater good that was to come. The
foreshadowing, however, was not such that, from the appear-
ance of Abel and Enoch, a personal Messiah could have been
descried, or as if, from the incidents in their respective lives,
precisely similar ones might have been inferred as likely to
happen in the eventful career of the man Christ Jesus. We
could not descend thus to individual and personal marks of co-
incidence between the lives of those early patriarchs and the
life of Messiah, without, in the first instance, anticipating the
order of Providence, which had not yet directed the eye of faith
and hope to a personal manifestation of Godhead, and then en-
tangling ourselves in endless difficulties of practical adjustment
— as in the case of Enoch's translation, who went to heaven
without tasting death, while Christ could not enter into glory
till He had tasted it. I3ut let those patriarchs be contemplate, 1
as the earlier links of a chain which, from its very nature,
must have some higher and nobler termination; let them be
viewed as characters that already bore upon them the linea-
ments and possessed the beginnings of the new creation: what
do they then appear but embodied prophecies of a more general

kind in respect to 'Him who was to come V They heralded
His future redemptive work by exhibiting in part the signs and

fruits of its prospective achievements. The beginning was
VOL. I. X

322 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

prophetic of the end ; for if the one had not been in prospect,
the other should not have come into existence. And in their
selection by God from the general mass around them, their
faith in God's word, and their possession of God's favour and
blessing, as outwardly displayed and manifested in their his-
tories, we see struggling, as it were, into being the first ele-
ments of that new state and destiny which were only to find
their valid reason, and reach their proper elevation, in the per-
son and kingdom of Messiah.

SECTION SECOND.

NOAII AND THE DELUGE.

The case of Noah, we have already stated, embodied some new
elements of a typical kind, which nave to it the character of a
distinct stage in the development of God's work of grace in the
world. It did so in connection with the deluge, which had a
gracious as well as a judicial aspect, and, by a striking com-
bination of opposites, brought prominently out the principle,
that the accomplishment of salvation necessarily carries along
with it a work of destruction. This was not absolutely a new
principle at the period of the deluge. It had a place in the
original promise, and a certain exemplification in the lives of
believers from the first. By giving to the prospect of recovery
the peculiar form of a bruising of the tempter's head, the Lord
plainly intimated, that somehow a work of destruction was to
go along with the work of salvation, and was necessary to its
accomplishment. No indication, however, was given of the
way in which this twofold process was to proceed, or of tin-
nature of the connection between the one part of it and the
other. But light to a certain extent soon began to be thrown
upon it by the consciousness in each man's bosom of a struggle
between the evil and the good — a struggle which so early as
the time of Cain drew forth the solemn warning, that either his
better part must vindicate for itself the superiority, or it must
itself fall down vanquished by the destroyer. Still further
light appeared, when the contending elements grew into two
great contending parties, which by an ever-widening breach,
and at length by most serious encroachments from the evil on
the good, rendered a work of judgment from above necessary

to the peace and safety of the believing portion of mankind.
The conviction of some approaching crisis of this nature had
become so deep in the time of Enoch, that it gave utterance
to itself in the prophecy ascribed in the Epistle of Jude to

828

324 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

that patriarch : ' Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of
His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all
that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which
they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches
which ungodly sinners have committed against Him.' The
struggle, it was thus announced, should ere long end in a mani-
festation of God for judgment against the apostate faction, and,
by implication, for deliverance to the children of faith and hope.

By the period of Noah's birth, however, the necessity of a
divine interposition had become much greater, and it appeared
manifest to the small remnant of believers that the era of retri-
bution, which they now identified with the era of deliverance,
must be at hand. Indication was then given of this state of
feeling by the name itself of Noah, with the reason assigned for
its adoption, ' This same shall comfort us concerning our work
and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord
hath cursed.' The feeling is too generally expressed, to enable
us to determine with accuracy how the parents of this child
might expect their troubles to be relieved through his instru-
mentality. But in their words we hear, at least, the groaning
of the oppressed — the sighing of righteous souls, vexed on ac-
count of the evils which were thickening around them, from the
unrestrained wickedness of those who had corrupted the earth ;
and, at the same time, not despairing, but looking up in faith,
and even confident that in the lifetime of that child the God of
righteousness and truth would somehow avenge the cause of His
elect. Whether they had obtained any correct insight or not
into the way by which the object was to be accomplished, the
event proved that the spirit of prophecy breathed in their an-
ticipation. Their faith rested upon solid grounds, and in the
hope which it led them to cherish they were not disappointed.
Salvation did come in connection with the person of Noah, and
it came in the way of an overwhelming visitation of wrath upon
the adversaries.

When we look simply at the outward results produced by
that remarkable visitation, they appear to have been twofold —
on the one side preservation, on the other destruction. But
when we look a little more closely, we perceive that there was a
necessary connection between the two results, and that there was

NOAH AND THE DELUGE. 325

properly but one object aimed at in the dispensation, though in
accomplishing it there was required the operation of a double
process. That object was, in the words of St. Peter, 'the
saving of Noah and his house' — Baving them as the spiritual
seed of God. But saving them from what? Not surely from
the violence and desolation of the waters; for the watery
element would then have acted as the preservative against
itself, and instead of being saved by the water, according to the
apostolic Btatement, the family of Noah would have been saved
from it.1 From what, then, were they saved? Undoubtedly
from that which, before the coming of the deluge, formed the
real element of danger — the corruption, enmity, and violence of
ungodly men. It was this which wasted the Church of God,
and brought it to the verge of destruction. All was ready to
perish. The cause of righteousness had at length but one
efficient representative in the person of Noah ; and he much
' like a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, like a besieged city,'
— the object of profane mockery and scorn, taunted, reviled,
plied with every weapon fitted to overcome his constancy, and,
if not in himself, at least in his family, in danger of suffering
shipwreck amid the swelling waves of wickedness around him.
It was to save him — and with him, the cause of God — from this
Bource of imminent danger and perdition, that the flood was

1 1 Pet. iii. 20. I am aware many eminent scholars give a different turn

tothi inm the first Epistle of Peter, and take the proper render-

• ared through (i.e. in the midst of) the water '- contemplating

the water as the space or region through which the ark was required to bear

hand his family in safety. S<> Be/.a. who says that' the water cannot be
taken for the instrumental • Noah was preserved from the water, not

by it; 'so also Titniann, Bib. Cab., VOL x\iii. p. 261 ; Bteiger in his Comm.,
with only a minute shade of difference; Robinson, in Lex., and many
othei . But this view ia open to the following objections : 1. Thewateris
hare mentioned, not in r< ped to its wide diffusion,"or to the extenl "f its
territory from one point to another, but Bimply as an instrumental agent
II id the former been meant, the expression would have bei a, 'saved through
the waters,1 rather than saved by water. But as the case Btood, it mattered
nothing whether the ark remained at one point on the suri

of the waters, or was borne from one place to another; bo that through, in
tie of passing through, or through amo; a quite unsuitable

meaning. That Noah needed to be saved from the wat r, rather than by it.

is a BUperfieial objection, proceeding on the supposition that the water had

32 G THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

sent ; and it could only do so by effectually separating between
him and the seed of evil-doers — engulphing them in ruin, and
sustaining him uninjured in his temporary home. So that the
deluge, considered as Noah's baptism, or the means of his sal-
vation from an outward form of spiritual danger, was not less
essentially connected with a work of judgment than with an act
of mercy. It was by the one that the other was accomplished ;
and the support of the ark on the bosom of the waters was only
a collateral object of the deluge. The direct and immediate
object was the extermination of that wicked race whose heaven-
daring impiety and hopeless impenitence was the real danger
that menaced the cause and people of God, — ' the destroying of
those (to use the language that evidently refers to it in Rev. xi.
18) who destroyed the earth.'

This principle of salvation with destruction, which found
such a striking exemplification in the deluge, has been continu-
ally appearing anew in the history of God's dealings among
men. It appeared, for example, at the period of Israel's re-
demption from Egypt, when a way of escape was opened for
the people of God by the overthrow of Pharaoh and his host ;
and again at the era of the return from Babylon, when the
destruction of the enemy and the oppressor broke asunder the
bands with which the children of the covenant were held cap-

the same relation to Noah that it had to the world in general. For him
the water and the ark were essentially connected together ; it took both to
make up the means of deliverance. In the same sense, and on the same
account, we might say of the Red Sea, that the Israelites were saved by it ;
for though in itself a source of danger, yet, as regarded Israel's position, it
was really the means of safety (1 Cor. x. 2). 2. The application made by
the apostle of Noah's preservation requires the agency of the water as well
as of the ark to be taken into account. Indeed, according to several au-
thorities (which read '6 xxl), the reference in the antitype is specially to the
water as the type. But apart from that, baptism is spoken of as a saving,
in consequence of its being a purifying ordinance, which implies, as in the
deluge, that the salvation be accomplished through means of a destruction.
This is virtually admitted by Steiger, who, though he adopts the rendering
' through the water,' yet in explaining the connection between the type
and the antitype, is obliged to regard the water as also instrumental to sal-
vation. ' The flood was for Noah a baptism, and as such saved ; the same
element, water, also saves us now — not, however, as mere water, but in the
same quality as a baptism.'

NOAH AND THE DELUGE. 327

tive. But it is in New Testament times, and in connection
with the work of Christ, that the higher manifestation of the
principle appears. Here alone perfection can he said to belong

to it. Complete as the work in one respect was in the days of
Noah, in another it soon gave unmistakeable evidence of its
own imperfection. The immediate danger was averted by the
destruction of the wicked in the waters of a deluge, and the
safe preservation of Noah and his family as a better seed to
replenish the depopulated earth. But it was soon found that
the old leaven .--till lurked in the bosom of the preserved rem-
nant itself; and another race of apostates and destroyers,
though of a less ferocious spirit, and under more of restraint
in regard to deeds of violence and bloodshed, rose up to pro-
secute anew the work of the adversary. In Christ, however,
the very foundations of evil from the first were struck at, and
nothing is left for a second beginning to the cause of iniquity,
lie came, as foretold by the prophet Isaiah,1 'to proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our
God,' which was, at the same time, to be the 'year of His re-
deemed.' And, accordingly, by the work lie accomplished on
earth, ' the prince of this world was judged and cast out;'2 or,
as it is again written, 'principalities and powers were spoiled,"
and ' he that had the power of death destroyed,' :: — thereby
giving deliverance to those who were subject to sin and death.
He did this once for all, when lie fulfilled all righteousness,
and suffered unto death for sin. The victory over the tempter
then achieved by Christ no more needs to be repeated than the
atonement made for human guilt; it needs to be appropriated
merely by His followers, and made effectual in their experience.
Satan has no longer any light to exercise lordship over men,
and hold them in bondage to his usurped authority; the ground
of his power and dominion is taken away, because the condem-
nation of sin, on which it stood, has been for ever abolished.
Christ, therefore, at once destroys and saves — saves by destroy-
ing— casts the cruel oppressordown from his ill-gotten supremacy,
and so relieves the poor, enthralled, devil-possessed nature of
man, and sets it into the glorious liberty of God's children.
In the case of the Redeemer Himself, this work is ab-
1 Ch. In, -J. - John xii. 31. 3 Col. ii. lj; 1Kb. ii. 14.

328 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

solutely complete ; the man Christ Jesus thoroughly bruised
Satan under His feet, and won a position where in no respect
whatever He could be any more subject to the power of evil.
Theoretically, we may say, the work is also complete in behalf
of His people ; on His part, no imperfection cleaves to it. By
virtue of the blood of Jesus, the house of our humanity, which
naturally stood accursed of God, and was ready to be assailed
by every form of evil, is placed on a new and better foundation.
It is made holiness to the Lord. The handwriting of con-
demnation that was against us is blotted out. The adversary
has lost his bill of indictment ; and nothing remains but that
the members of the human family should, each for themselves,
take up the position secured for them by the salvation of Christ,
to render them wholly and for ever superior to the dominion of
the adversary. But it is here that imperfection still comes in.
Men will not lay hold of the advantage obtained for them by
the all-prevailing might and energy of Jesus, or they will but
partially receive into their experience the benefits it provides
for them. Yet there is a measure of success also here, in the
case of all genuine believers. And it is to this branch of the
subject more immediately that the Apostle Peter points, when
he represents Christian baptism as the antitype of the deluge.
In the personal experience of believers, as symbolized in that
ordinance, there is a re-enacting substantially of what took
place in the outward theatre of the world by means of the
deluge. ' The like figure whereunto (literally, the antitype to
which, viz. Noah's salvation by water in the ark) even baptism
doth also now save us ; not the putting away of the filth of the
flesh; but the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.'1 Like the apostle's delineations
generally, the passage briefly indicates, rather than explicitly
unfolds, the truths connected with the subject. Yet, on a slight
consideration of it, we readily perceive that, with profound dis-
cernment, it elicits from the ordinance of baptism, as spiritually
understood and applied, the same fundamental elements, dis-
covers there the same twofold process, which appeared so strik-
ingly in the case of Noah. Here also there is a salvation
reaching its accomplishment by means of a destruction — ' not

1 1 Pot. iii. 21.

NOAH AND THE DELUGE. 329

the putting away of the filth of the flesh'— not so superficial a
riddance of evil, but one of a more important and vital charac-
ter, briniiinji ' the answer of a jrood conscience,' or the deliver-
ance of the soul from the guilt and power of iniquity. The
water of baptism — let the subject be plunged in it ever so deep,
or sprinkled ever so much — can no more of itself save him than
the water of the deluge could have saved Noah, apart from the
faith he possessed, and the preparation it led him to make in
constructing and entering into the ark. It was because he held
and exercised such faith, that the deluge brought salvation to
Noah, while it overwhelmed others in destruction. So is it in
baptism, when received in a spirit of faith. There is in this
also the putting off of the old man of corruption — crucifying it
together with Christ, and at the same time a rising through the
resurrection of Christ to the new and heavenly life, which satis-
fies the demands of a pure and enlightened conscience. So
that the really baptized soul is one in which there has been a
killing and a making alive, a breaking up and destroying of the
root of corrupt nature, and planting in its stead the seed of a
divine nature, to spring, and grow, and bring forth fruit to
perfection. In the microcosm of the individual believer, there
is the perishing of an old world of sin and death, and the
establishment of a new world of righteousness and life ever-
lasting.

Such is the proper idea of Christian baptism, and such
would be the practical result were the idea fully realized in the
experience of the baptized. But this is so far from being the
case, that evrn the idea is apt to suffer in people's minds from
the conscious imperfections of their experience. And it might
help to cheek such a tendency — it might, at least, be of service
in enabling them to keep themselves well informed as to what
should be, if they looked occasionally to what actually was, in
the outward pattern of these spiritual things, given in the times
of Noah. Are you disinclined, we might say to them, to have
the axe so unsparingly applied to the old man of corruption .'
Think, for your warning, how God spared not the <»ld world,
but sent its mass of impurity headlong into the gulph of perdi-
tion. Seems it a task too formidable, and likely to prove hope-
less in the accomplishment, to maintain your ground against the

330 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

powers of evil in the world ? Think again, for your encourage-
ment, how impotent the giants of wickedness were of old to
defeat the counsels of God, or prevail over those who held fast
their confidence in His word ; with all their numbers and their
might, they sunk like lead in the waters, while the little house-
hold of faith rode secure in the midst of them. Or does it
appear strange, at times perhaps incredible, to your mind, that
you should be made the subject of a work which requires for its
accomplishment the peculiar perfections of Godhead, while others
are left entire strangers to it, and even find the word of God —
the chosen instrument for effecting it — the occasion of wrath
and condemnation to their souls ? Remember ' the few, the
eight souls ' of Noah's family, alone preserved amid the wreck
and desolation of a whole world — preserved, too, by faith in a
word of God, which carried in its bosom the doom of myriads
of their fellow-creatures, and so, finding that which was to
others a minister of condemnation, a source of peace and safety
to them. Rest assured, that as God Himself remains the same
through all generations, so His work for the good of men is
essentially the same also ; and it ever must be His design and
purpose, that Noah's faith and salvation should be perpetually
renewing themselves in the hidden life and experience of those
who are preparing for the habitations of glory.

SECTION THIRD.

TriE NEW WORLD AND ITS INHIBITORS — TTIE MEN OF FAITn.

I.\ one respect the world seemed to have suffered material loss
by the visitation of the deluge. Along with the agents and
instruments of evil, there had also been swept away by it the
emblems of grace and hope — paradise with its tree of life and
its cherubim of glory. We can conceive Noah and his house-
bold, when they first left the ark, looking around with melan-
choly feelings on the position they now occupied, not only as
being the sole survivors of a numerous offspring, but also as
beinir themselves bereft of the sacred memorials which bore
evidence of a happy past, and exhibited the pledge of a yet
happier future. An important link of communion with heaven,
it might well have seemed, was broken by the change thus
brought through the deluge on the world. But the loss was
soon fully compensated, and we may even say more than com-
pensated, by the advantages conferred on Noah and his seed
from the higher relation to which they were now raised in re-
spect to God and the world. There are three points that here,
in particular, call for attention.

1. The first is, the new condition of the earth itself, which
immediately appears in the freedom allowed and practised in
regard to the external worship of God. This was no longer
confined to any single region, as seems to have been the case in
the age subsequent to the fall. The cherubim were located in
a particular spot, on the east of the garden of Eden; and as
the symbols of God's presence were there, it was only natural
that the celebration of divine worship should there also have
found its common centre. Hence the two sons of Adam are
said to have ' brought their offerings unto the Lord' — which
can scarcely be understood otherwise than as pointing to that
particular locality which was hallowed by visible symbols of the
Lord's presence, and in the neighbourhood of which life and

231

332 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

blessing still lingered. In like manner, it is said of Cain, after
he had assumed the attitude of rebellion, that ' he went out
from the presence of the Lord,' obviously implying that there
was a certain region with which the divine presence was con-
sidered to be more peculiarly connected, and which can be
thought of nowhere else than in that sanctuary on the east of
Eden. But with the flood the reason for any such restriction
vanished. Noah, therefore, reared his altar, and presented his
sacrifice to the Lord where the ark rested. There immediately
he got the blessing, and entered into covenant with God —
proving that, in a sense, old things had passed away, and all
had become new. The earth had risen in the divine reckoning
to a higher condition ; it had passed through the baptism of
water, and was now, in a manner, cleansed from defilement ; so
that every place had become sacred, and might be regarded as
suitable for the most solemn acts of worship.1

This more sacred and elevated position of the earth after
the deluge appears, further, in the express, repeal of the curse
originally laid upon the ground for the sin of Adam : ' I will
not again curse the ground any more for man's sake,' 2 was the
word of God to Noah, when accepting the first offering pre-
sented to Him on the purified earth. It is, no doubt, to be under-

1 If we are right as to the centralization of the primitive worship of
mankind (and it seems to be only the natural inference from the notices
referred to), then the antediluvian population cannot well be supposed to
have been of vast extent, or to have wandered to a very great distance from
the original centre. The employment also of a special agency after the
flood to disperse the descendants of Noah, and scatter them over the earth,
seems to indicate that an indisposition to go to a distance, a tendency to
crowd too much about a single locality, was one of the sources of evil in the
first stage of the world's history, the recurrence of which well deserved to
be prevented, even by miraculous interference ; and it is perfectly conceiv-
able, indeed most likely, that the tower of Babel, in connection with which
this interference took place, was not intended to be a palladium of idolatry,
or a mere freak of ambitious folly, but rather a sort of substitution for the
loss of the Edenic symbols, and, as such, a centre of union for the human
family. It follows, of course, from the same considerations, that the deluge
might not absolutely require, so far as the race of man was concerned, to
extend over more than a comparatively limited portion of the earth. But
its actual compass is not thereby determined.

2 Gen. viii. 21.

TIIE NEW WOULD AND ITS INHERITORS. 333

stood relatively ; not as indicating a total repeal of the evil, but
only a mitigation of it ; yet such a mitigation as would render
the earth a much less afflicted and more fertile region than it had
been before. But this again indicated that, in the estimation of
Heaven, the earth had now assumed a new position; that by the
action of God's judgment upon it, it had become hallowed in
His sight and was in a condition to receive tokens of the divine
favour, which had formerly been withheld from it.

i'. The second point to be noticed here, is the heirship
given of this new world to Noah and his seed — given to them
expressly as the children of faith.

Adam, at his creation, was constituted the lord of this
world, and had kingly power and authority given him to sub-
due it and rule over it. But on the occasion of his fall, this
grant, though not formally recalled, suffered a capital abridg-
ment ; since he was sent forth from Eden as a discrowned
monarch, to do the part simply of a labourer on the surface of
the earth, and with the discouraging assurance that it should
reluctantly yield to him of its fruitfulness. Nor, when he
afterwards so distinctly identified himself with God's promis I
and purpose of grace, by appearing as the head only of that
portion of his seed who had faith in God, did there seem any
alleviation of the evil : the curse that rested on the ground,

ted on it still, even for the Beed of blessing;1 and not they,
but the ungodly Cainites, acquired in it the ascendency of
physical force and political dominion.

A change, however, appears in the relative position of
things, when the Hood had swept with its purifying waters over
the earth. Man now rises, in the person of Noah, to a higher
place in the world ; yet not simply as man, but as a child of
<■ id, standing in faith. His faith had saved him amid the

leral wreck of the old world, to become in the new a second
head of mankind, and an inheritor of earth's domain, as now
purged and rescued from the pollution of evil. 'He is made
heir,' as it is written in Hebrews, 'of the righteousness which
ib by faith,' — heir, that is, of all that properly belongs to such

tteousness, not merely of the righteousness itself, bul also

of the world, which in the divine purpose it was destined to

1 Lieu. v. 29.

334 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

possess and occupy. Hence, as if there had been a new
creation, and a new head brought in to exercise over it the
right of sovereignty, the original blessing and grant to Adam
are substantially renewed to Noah and his family : ' And God
blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you,
and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth,
and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the
earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea : into your hand are
they delivered.' Here, then, the righteousness of faith received
direct from the grace of God the dowry that had been origi-
nally bestowed upon the righteousness of nature — not a bless-
ing merely, but a blessing coupled with the heirship and
dominion of the world.

There was nothing strange or arbitrary in such a proceed-
ing ; it was in perfect accordance with the great principles of
the divine administration. Adam was too closely connected
with the sin that destroyed the world, to be reinvested, even
when he had through faith become a partaker of grace, with
the restored heirship of the world. Nor had the world itself
passed through such an ordeal of purification, as to fit it, in
the personal lifetime of Adam, or of his more immediate off-
spring, for being at all represented in the light of an -inherit-
ance of blessing. The renewed title to the heirship of its ful-
ness was properly reserved to the time when, by the great act
of divine judgment at the deluge, it had passed into a new
condition ; and when one was found of the woman's seed, who
had attained in a peculiar degree to the righteousness of faith,
and along with the world had undergone a process of salva-
tion. It was precisely such a person that should have been
chosen as the first type of the righteousness of faith, in re-
spect to its world-wide heritage of blessing. And having been
raised to this higher position, an additional sacredness was
thrown around him and his seed : the fear of them was to be
put into the inferior creatures ; their life was to be avenged
of every one that should wrongfully take it ; even the life-
blood of irrational animals was to be held sacred, because of
its having something in common with man's, while their flesh
was now freely surrendered to their use ; — the whole evidently

THE NEW WORLD AND ITS INHERITORS. 335

fitted, and, we cannot doubt, also intended to convey the idea,
that man had by the special gift of God's grace been again
constituted heir and lord of the world, that, in the words of the
Psalmist, ' the earth had been given to the children of men,'
and given in a larger and fuller sense than had been dune since
the period of the fall.1

3. The remaining point to be noticed in respect to this new
order of things, is the pledge of continuance notwithstanding
all appearances or threatenings to the contrary, given in the
covenant made with Noah, and confirmed by a fixed sign in
the heavens. 'And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons
with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with
yon, and witli your seed after you; and with every living
creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of
every beast of the earth with you ; from all that go out of
the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my
covenant with you : neither shall all flesh be cut off any more

the waters of a flood ; neither shall there any more be a
flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token
of the covenant which I make between me and you, and every
living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations : I
do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a
covenant' (more exactly : my bow I have set in the cloud, and
it shall be for a covenant-sign) ' between me and the earth.
And it shall come t<> pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth,
that the bow shall be seen in the cloud : and I will remember
my covenant, which is between me and you and every living

1 It presents no contrariety to this, when rightly considered, that the
I/. I.! Bhould also have connected His purpose of preserving the earth in
future ■with th'' corruption of man : ' And the Lord smelled a Bweel savour
(viz. from Noah's sacrifice); and the Lord Baid in His heart, I will uot

in curse the ground any more for man's Bake; for the Imagination of
man's heart is evil from bis youth1 (Gen. viii. i'l). The meaning is, thai

l delighted so much more in the offerings of righteousness than in the
infli i i'-iit , that He would now direct His providence so

more effectually t" Becure tin- former — would not allow the imaginations of
man's evil heart to -. i such Bcope as they had done but, perceiving

ami remembering their native- existence in the heart, would bring such
remedial influences into operation that the extremity of the past should not
again return.

33G THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

creature of all flesh ; and the waters shall no more become a
flood to destroy all flesh.' 1

There can be no doubt that the natural impression pro-
duced by this passage in respect to the sign of the covenant is,
that it now for the first time appeared in the lower heavens.
The Lord might, no doubt, then, or at any future time, have
taken an existing phenomenon in nature, and by a special
appointment made it the instrument of conveying some new
and higher meaning to the subjects of His revelation. But
in a matter like the present, when the specific object contem-
plated was to allay men's fears of the possible recurrence of
the deluge, and give them a kind of visible pledge in nature
for the permanence of her existing order and constitution, one
is at a loss to see how a natural phenomenon, common alike to
the antediluvian and the postdiluvian world, could have fitly
served the purpose. In that case, so far as the external sign
was concerned, matters stood precisely where they were ; and
it was not properly the sign, but the covenant itself, which
formed the guarantee of safety for the future. We incline,
therefore, to the opinion that, in the announcement here made,
intimation is given of a change in the physical relations or tem-
perature of at least that portion of the earth where the original
inhabitants had their abode ; by reason of which the descent of
moisture in showers of rain came to take the place of distillation
by dew, or other modes of operation different from the present.
The supposition is favoured by the mention only of dew before
in connection with the moistening of the ground ;2 and when
rain does come to be mentioned, it is rain in such flowing
torrents as seems rather to betoken the outpouring of a con-
tinuous stream, than the gentle dropping which we are wont to
understand by the term, and to associate with the rainbow.

The fitness of the rainbow in other respects to serve as a sign
of the covenant made with Noah, is all that could be desired.
There is an exact correspondence between the natural pheno-
menon it presents, and the moral use to which it is applied.
The promise in the covenant was not that there should be no
future visitations of judgment upon the earth, but that they
should not proceed to the extent of again destroying the world
1 Gen. ix. 8-15. * Gen. ii. 6.

THE NEW WORLD AND ITS INHERITORS. 337

In the moral, as in the natural sphere, there might still be eon-
gregating vapours and descending torrents ; indeed, the terms
of the covenant imply that there should be such, and that by
means of them God would not fail to testify His displeasure
against sin, and keep in awe the workers of iniquity. But
there should be no second deluge to diffuse universal ruin ;
mercy should always so far rejoice against judgment. Such
in the field of nature is the assurance given by the rainbow,
which is formed by the lustre of the sun's rays shining on the
dark cloud as it recedes; so that it may be termed, as in the
somewhat poetical description of Lange, 'the sun's triumph
over the floods; the glitter of his beams imprinted on the rain-
cloud as a mark of subjection.' How appropriate an emblem
of that grace which should always show itself ready to return
after wrath ! Grace still sparing and preserving, even when
storms of judgment have been bursting forth upon the guilty!
And as the rainbow throws its radiant arch over the expanse
between heaven and earth, uniting the two together ajzain as
with a wreath of beauty, after they have been engaged in an
elemental war, what a fitting image does it present to the
thoughtful eye of the essential harmony that still subsists be-
tween the higher and the lower spheres! Such undoubtedly
is its symbolic import, as the sign peculiarly connected with the
covenant of Noah ; it holds out, by means of its very form and
nature, an assurance of God's mercy, as engaged to keep per-
petually in check the floods of deserved wrath, and continue to
the world the manifestation of His grace and goodness. Such
also is the import attached to it, when forming a part of pro-
phetic imagery in the visions of Ezekiel and St. John;1 it is
the symbol of grace, as ever ready to return after judgment,
and to stay the evil from proceeding so far as to accomplish a
complete destruction."

1 Ezek. i. 28 : Rev. iv. 3.

- Far too general is the explanation often given of the symbolic import
of the rainbow by writers on such topics — as when it is described to be ' in
vmiiol of God's willingness to receive men into favour again*
(Wemyss's Clavis Symbolical or that 'it indicates the faithfulness of the
Almighty in fulfilling the pn that He has made to His people'

(Mill's v Symbology). Sound Christian feeling, with something of a

VOL. I. y

338 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

Yet gracious as this covenant with Noah was, and appro-
priate and beautiful the sign that ratified it, all still bore on it
the stamp of imperfection ; there was an indication and a pre-
lude of the better things needed to make man truly and per-
manently blessed, not these things themselves. For what was
this new world, which had its perpetuity secured, and over
which Noah was set to reign, as heir of the righteousness that
is by faith ? To Noah himself, and each one in succession of
his seed, it was still a region of corruption and death. It had
been sanctified, indeed, by the judgment of God, and as thus
sanctified it was not to perish again as it had done before. But
this sanctification was only by water. Another agency, more
thoroughly pervasive in its nature, and in its effects more nobly
sublimating, the agency of fire, is required to purge out the
dross of its earthliness, and render it a home and an inheritance
fit for those who are made like to the Son of God.1 And Noah
himself, though acknowledged heir of the righteousness by
faith, and receiving on his position the seal of heaven, in the
salvation granted to him and his household, yet how far from

poetic eye for the imagery of nature, finds its way better to the meaning —
as in the following simple lines of John Newton : —

' When the sun with cheerful beams

Smiles upon a low'ring sky,
Soon its aspect softened seems,

And a rainbow meets the eye ;
While the sky remains serene,

This bright arch is never seen.

' Thus the Lord's supporting power
Brightest to His saints appears,
When affliction's threat'ning hour

Fills their sky with clouds and fears ;
He can wonders then perform,
Paint a rainbow on the storm.

' Favoured John a rainbow saw

Circling round the throne above ;
Hence the saints a pledge may draw

Of unchanging covenant-love :
Clouds awhile may intervene,

But the bow shall still be seen.'

1 2 Pet. iii. 7-13.

THE NEW WORLD AND ITS INHERITORS. 339

being perfect in that righteousness, or by this salvation placed
beyond the reach of evil ! Ere long he miserably fell under the
power of temptation ; and anmistakeable evidence appeared
that the serpent's Beed had found a place among the members
of his household. High, therefore, as Noah stood compared
with those who had gone before him, he was, after all, but the
representative of an imperfect righteousn ss, and the heir of a
corruptible and transitory inheritance. He was the type, but
no more than the type, of Him who was to come — in whom the
righteousness of God should be perfected, salvation should i
to its higher sphere, and all, both in the heirs of glory, and the
inheritance they were to occupy, should by the baptism of fire
be rendered incorruptible, and undefiled, and unfading.

SECTION FOURTH.

THE CHANGE IN THE DIVINE CALL FROM THE GENERAL TO
THE PARTICULAR — SHEM, ABRAHAM.

The obvious imperfections just noticed, both in the righteous-
ness of the new head of the human family, and in the constitu-
tion of the world over which he was placed, clearly enough
indicated that the divine plan had only advanced a stage in its
progress, but had by no means reached its perfection. As the
world, however, in its altered condition, had become naturally
superior to its former state, so — in necessary and causal connec-
tion with this — it was in a spiritual respect to stand superior to
it : secured against the return of a general perdition, it was
also secured against the return of universal apostasy and cor-
ruption. The cause of righteousness was not to be trodden
down as it had been before — nay, was to hold on its way, and
ultimately rise to the ascendant in. the affairs of men.

Not only was this presupposed in the covenant of perpetuity
established for the world, as the internal ground on which it
rested, but it was also distinctly announced by the father of the
new world, in the prophetic intimation he gave of the future
destinies of his children. It was a melancholy occasion which
drew this prophecy forth, as it was alike connected with the
shameful backsliding of Noah himself, and the wanton inde-
cency of his youngest son. When Noah recovered from his
sin, and understood how this son had exposed, while the other
two had covered, his nakedness, he said, ' Cursed be Canaan ; a
servant of servants {i.e. a servant of the lowest grade) shall he
be to his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of
Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge
Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem ; and Canaan
shall be his servant.'1

There are various points of interest connected with this

1 Gen. ix. 25-27.
340

CHANGE IN THE CALL, SHEM. 341

prophecy, and the occurrence that gave rise to it, which it does
nut fall within our province to notice. But the leading scope
of it, as bearing on the prospective destinies of mankind, is
manifestly of a hopeful description ; and in that respect it
differs materially from the first historical incident that revealed
the conflict of nature and irrace in the family of Adam. The
triumph of Cain over righteous Abel, and his stout-hearted
istance to the voice of God, gave ominous indication of the
bad pre-eminence which sin was to acquire, and the fearful re-
sults which it was to achieve in the old world. But the milder
form of this outbreak of evil in the family of Noah — the imme-
diate discouragement it meets with from the older members of
the family — the strong denunciation it draws down from the
venerable parent — above all, the clear and emphatic prediction
it elicits of the ascendency of the good over the evil in these
seminal divisions of the human family — one and all perfectly
accorded with the more advanced state which the world had
reached ; they bespoke the cheering fact, that righteousness
should now hold its ground in the world, and that the dominant
powers and races should be in league with it, while servility and
degradation should rest upon its adversaries.

This any (me may see at a glance, is the general tendency
and doign of what was uttered on the occasion ; but there is a
marked peculiarity in the form given to it, such as plainly inti-
mates the commencement of a change in the divine economy.
The prophetic announcement is pervaded by a striking particu-
larism. We see in it no longer merely a statement of broad
principles, or an indication of general results; but there is
given — though still, no doubt, in wide and comprehensive terms
— the characteristic outlines of the future state and relative
positions of Noah's descendants. Such is the decided tendency
here to the particular, that in the dark side of the picture it is
not Ham, the offending son and the general head of the worso
portion of the postdiluvian family, who is selected as the special
object of judgment, nor the sons of Ham generally, but speci-
fically Canaan, who, it seems all but certain, was the youngest
son.1 Why this son, rather than the offending father, should
have been singled out for denunciation, has been ascribed to

1 Gel), x. 6.

342 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

various reasons ; and resort has not un frequently been had to
conjecture, by supposing that this son may probably have been
present with the father, or some way participated with him in
the offence. Even, however, if we had been certified of this
participation, it could at most have accounted for the introduc-
tion of the name of Canaan alon£ with his father's, but not for
the one being supplanted by the other. Nor can we allow much
more weight to another supposition, that the omission of the
name of Ham may have been intended for the very purpose of
proving the absence of all vindictive feeling, and showing that
these were the words, not of a justly indignant parent giving
vent to the emotions of the passing moment, but of a divinely
inspired prophet calmly anticipating the events of a remote
futurity. Undoubtedly such is their character ; but no extenu-
ating consideration of this kind is needed to prove it, if we only
keep in view the judicial nature of this part of the prophecy.
The curse pronounced is not an ebullition of wrathful feeling,
not a wish for the infliction of evil, but the announcement of a
doom, or punishment for a particular offence ; and one that was
to take, as so often happens in divine chastisements, the specific
form of the offence committed. Noah's affliction from the
conduct of Ham was in the most peculiar manner to find its
parallel in the case of Ham himself : he, the youngest son of
Noah,1 had proved a vexation and disgrace to his father, and
in meet retaliation his own youngest son was to have his name
in history coupled with the most humiliating and abject degra-
dation.

It was, therefore, in the first instance at least, for the pur-
pose of marking more distinctly the connection between the sin
and its punishment, that Canaan only was mentioned in the
curse. Viewed as spoken to Ham, the word virtually said, I
am pained to the heart on account of you, my youngest son,

1 Gen. ix. 24. The expression in the original is ppn 123, and is the
same that is applied to David in 1 Sain. xvii. 14. There can, therefore, be
no reasonable doubt that it means youngest, and not tender or dear, as
some would take it. It is not so expressly said that Canaan was Ham's
youngest son ; but the inference that he was such is fair and natural, as he
is mentioned last in the genealogy, ch. x. 6, where no sufficient reason can
be thought of for deviating from the natural order.

CHANGE IN THE CALL, SIIEM. 313

and you in turn shall have good cause to be pained on account
of your youngest son — your own measure shall be meted hack
with increase to yourself. It may he true — as Havernick states
in his Introduction to the Pentateuch — that the curse, properly

belonging to Ham, was to concentrate itself in the line of
Canaan ; and, beyond doubt, it is more especially in connection
with that line that Scripture itself traces the execution of the
curse. But these are somewhat remote and incidental con-
siderations ; the more natural and direct is the one already
given — which Hofmann, we believe, was the first to suggest.1
And as the word took the precise form it did, for the purpose
more particularly of marking the connection between the sin
and the punishment, it plainly indicated that the evil could not
be confined to the line of Ham's descendants by Canaan ; the
same polluted fountain could not fail to send forth its bitter
streams also in other directions. The connection is entirely a
moral one. Even in the case of Canaan there was no arbitrary
and hapless appointment to inevitable degradation and slavery.
This was clearly shown by the long forbearance and delay in
the execution of the threatened doom, expressly on the ground
of the iniquity of the people not having become full, and also
by the examples of individual Canaanites, who rose even to
distinguished favour and blessing, such as Melchizedek and
Bahab in earlier, and the Syrophenician woman in later times.
Noah, however, saw with prophetic insight, that in a general
point of view the principle should here hold, like father like
child; and that the irreverent and wanton spirit which so
strikingly betrayed itself in the conduct of the progenitor,
should infallibly give rise to an offspring whose dissolute and
profligate manners would in due time bring upon them a doom
of degradation and servitude. Such a posterity, with such a
doom, beyond all question were the Canaanites, to whom we
may add also the Tyriaus and Sidonians, with their descendants
the Carthaginians. The connection of sin and punishment
might even be traced in other branches, but it were beside our
present purpose to go into further investigations regarding it.

Our course of inquiry rather leads us to notice the turn the
prophecy takes in regard to the other side of the representation,
1 Weunayung wad ErfUllung, i. p. b9.

344- THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

and to mark the signs it contains of a tendency toward the par-
ticular, in connection with the future development of the scheme
of grace. This comes out first and pre-eminently in the case of
Shem : ' And he said, Blessed is (or be) Jehovah, the God of
Shem' — a blessing not directly upon Shem, but upon Jehovah
as his God ! Why such a peculiarity as this ? No doubt, in
the first instance, to make the contrast more palpable between
this case and the preceding ; the connection with God, which
was utterly wanting in the one, presenting itself as everything,
in a manner, in the other. Then it proclaims the identity as to
spiritual state between Noah and Shem, and designates this son
as in the full sense the heir of blessing : ' Blessed be Jehovah,
the God of Shem : ' — my God is also the God of my son ; 1
adore Him for what He has been to me, and now make Him
known as the covenant God of Shem. Nor of Shem only as
an individual, but as the head of a certain portion of the world's
inhabitants. It was with this portion that God was to stand
in the nearest relation. Here He was to find His peculiar
representatives, and His select instruments of working among
men — here emphatically were to be the priestly people. A
spiritual distinction, therefore — the highest spiritual distinction,
a state of blessed nearness to God, and special interest in His
fulness — is what is predicated of the line of Shem. And in the
same sense — namely, as denoting a fellowship in this spiritual
distinction — should that part of the prophecy on Japheth also
be understood, which points to a connection with Shem : * God
shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem.'
It obviously, indeed, designates his stock generally as the most
spreading and energetic of the three — pre-eminent, so far as
concerns diffusive operations and active labour in occupying the
lands and carrying forward the business of the world — and thus
naturally tending, as the event has proved, to push their way,
even in a civil and territorial respect, into the tents of Shem.
This last thought may therefore not unfairly be included in the
compass of the prediction, but it can at most be regarded as the
subordinate idea. The prospect, as descried from the sacred
heights of prophecy, of dwelling in the tents of Shem, must
have been eyed, not as an intrusive conquest on the part of
Japheth, subjecting Shem in a measure to the degrading lot of

CHANGE IN THE CALL, ABRAHAM. 345

Canaan, but rather as a sacred privilege — an admission of this
less honoured race under the shelter of the same divine pro-
tection, and into the partnership of the same ennobling benefits
with himself. In a word, it was through the line of Shem

that the gifts of grace and the blessings of salvation were
more immediately to flow — the Shemites were to have them
at first hand ; but the descendants of Japheth were also to
participate largely in the good. And by reason of their more
extensive ramifications and more active energies, they were to
be mainly instrumental in working upon the condition of the
world.

It is evident, even from this general intimation of the divine
purposes, that the more particular direction which was now to
be given to the call of God, was not to be particular in the sense
of exclusive, but particular only for the sake of a more efficient
working and a more comprehensive result. The exaltation of
Shem's progeny into the nearest relationship to God, was not
that they might keep the privilege to themselves, but that first
getting it, they should admit the sons of Japheth, the inhabi-
tants of the isles, to share with them in the boon, and spread it
as wide as their scattered race should extend. The principle
announced was an immediate particularism for the sake of an
itltimate universalism. And this change in the manner of work-
ing was not introduced arbitrarily, but in consequence of the
proved inadequacy of the other, and, as we may say, more
natural course that had hitherto been pursued. Formally con-
sidered, the earlier revelations of God made no difference be-
tween one person and another, or even between one stem and
another. They spoke the same language, and held out the same
invitations to all. The weekly call to enter into God's rest —
the promise of victory to the woman's seed — the exhibition of
grace and hope in the symbols at the east of Eden — the insti-
tuted means of access to God in sacrificial worship — even the
more specific promises and pledges of the Noachic covenant, were
offered and addressed to men without distinction. Practically,
however, they narrowed themselves ; and when the effect is
looked to, it is found that there was only a portion, an elect
seed, that really had faith in the divine testimony, and entered
into possession of the offered good. Not only so, but there was

34 G THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

a downward tendency in the process. The elect seed did not
grow as time advanced, but proportionally decreased ; the cause
and party that flourished was the one opposed to God's. And
the same result was beginning to take place after the flood, as
is evident from what occurred in the family of Noah itself, and
from other notices of the early appearance of corruption. The
tendency in this direction was too strong to be effectually met
by such general revelations and overtures of mercy. The
plan was too vague and indeterminate. A more specific line
of operations was needed — from the particular to the general ;
so that a certain amount of good, within a definite range, might
in the first instance be secured ; and that from this, as a fixed
position, other advantages might be gained, and more extensive
results achieved.

It is carefully to be noted, then, that a comprehensive object
was as much contemplated in this new plan as in the other ;
it differed only in the mode of reach ins the end in view. The
earth was to be possessed and peopled by. the three sons of
Noah ; and of the three, Shem is the one who was selected as
the peculiar channel of divine gifts and communications — but
not for his own exclusive benefit ; rather to the end that others
might share with him in the blessing. The real nature and
bearing of the plan, however, became more clearly manifest,
when it began to be actually carried into execution. Its proper
commencement dates from the call of Abraham, who was of
the line of Shem, and in whom, as an individual, the purpose
of God began practically to take effect. Why the divine
choice should have fixed specially upon him as the first indi-
vidual link in this grand chain of providences, is not stated ;
and from the references subsequently made to it, we are plainly
instructed to regard it as an example of the free grace and
sovereign goodness of God.1 That he had nothing whereof to
boast in respect to it, we are expressly told ; and yet we may
not doubt, that in the line of Shem's posterity, to which he
belonged, there was more knowledge of God, and less corrup-
tion in His worship, than among other branches of the same
stem. Hence, perhaps, as being addressed to one who was
perfectly cognisant of what had taken place in the history of

1 Josh. xxiv. 2 ; Neh. Lx. 7.

CHANGE IX THE CALL, ABRAHAM. 317

liis progenitors, the revelation made to him takes a form which
bears evident respect to the blessing pronounced on Shorn, and
appears only indeed as the giving of a more specific direction
to Slum's high calling, or chalking out a definite way for its
accomplishment. Jehovah was the God of Shem — that in the
word of Noah was declared to be his peculiar distinction. In
like manner, Jehovah from the first made Himself known to
Abraham as his God ; nay, even took the name of ' God of
Abraham' as a distinctive epithet, and made the promise, lI
will be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee/ a leading
article in the covenant established with him. And as the

uliar blessing of Shem was to be held with no exclusive
design, but tli.it the sons of Japheth far and wide might share
in it, so Abraham is called not only to be himself blessed, but
also that he might be a blessing, — a blessing to such an extent,
that those should be blessed who blessed him, and in him all
the families of the earth should be blessed.1 Yet with this
general similarity between the earlier and the later announce-
ment, what a striking advance does the divine plan now make
in breadth of meaning and explicitness of purpose ! How
wonderfully does it combine together the little and the great,
the individual and the universal ! Its terminus a <jao the son
of a Mesopotamian shepherd ; and its terminus ad quern the
entire brotherhood of humanity, and the round circumference
of the globe ! A\ 'hat a divine-like grasp and comprehensive-

s! Th" very projection of such a scheme bespoke the
infinite understanding of Godhead ; and minds altogether the
reverse of narrow and exclusive, minds attempered to noble
aims and inspired by generous feeling, alone could carry it into
execution.

By this call Abraham was raised to a very singular pre-
eminence, and constituted in a manner the root and centre of
the world's future history, as concerned the attainment of real
blessing. Still, even in that respect not exclusively. The
blessing was to come chiefly to Abraham, and through him ;
but, as already indicated also in the prophecy on Shem, others
were to stand, though in a subordinate rank, on the same line —
i-inee these also were to be blessed who blessed him ; that is,

1 Gen. xii. 1-3, xvii. 4-«.

348 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

who held substantially the same faith, and occupied the same
friendly relation to God. The cases of such persons in the
patriarch's own day, as his kinsman Lot, who was not formally
admitted into Abraham's covenant, and still more of Mel-
chizedek, who was not even of Abraham's line, and yet indi-
vidually stood in some sense higher than Abraham himself,
clearly showed, and were no doubt partly raised up for the
purpose of showing, that there was nothing arbitrary in
Abraham's position, and that the ground he occupied was to
a certain extent common to believers generally. The peculiar
honour conceded to him was, that the great trunk of blessing
was to be of him, while only some isolated twigs or scattered
branches were to be found elsewhere ; and even these could
only be found by persons coming, in a manner, to make com-
mon cause with him. In regard to himself, however, the large
dowry of good conveyed to him in the divine promise could
manifestly not be realized through himself personally. There
could at the most be but a beginning made in. his own experience
and history ; and the widening of the circle of blessing to other
kindreds and regions, till it reached the most distant families
of the earth, must necessarily be effected by means of those who
were to spring from him. Hence the original word of promise,
which was, ' In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed,'
was afterwards changed into this, l In thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed.' l

Yet the original expression is not without an important
meaning, and it takes the two, the earlier as well as the later
form, to bring out the full design of God in the calling of
Abraham. From the very nature of the case, first, as having
respect to so extensive a field to be operated on, and then from
the explicit mention of the patriarch's seed in the promise, no
doubt whatever could be entertained that the good in its larger
sense was to be wrought out, not by himself individually and
directly, but by him in connection with the seed to be given to
him. And when the high character as well as the comprehen-
sive reach of the good was taken into account, it might well
have seemed as if even that seed were somehow going to have
qualities associated with it which he could not perceive in him-

1 Gen. xxii. 18.

CHANGE IN THE CALL, ABRAHAM. oi9

self — as if another and higher connection with the heavenly
and divine should in due time be given to it, than any he was
conscious of enjoying in his state of noblest elevation. We, at
least, know from the better light we possess, that such actually
was the case ; that the good promised neither did nor could
have come into realization but by a personal commingling of
the divine with the human ; and that it has become capable of
reaching to the most exalted height, and of diffusing itself
through the widest bounds, simply by reason of this union in
Christ, lie therefore is the essential kernel of the promise;
and the seed of Abraham, rather than Abraham himself, was
t<> have the honour of blessing all the families of the earth.
This, however, by no means makes void the in thee of the
original promise ; for by so expressly connecting the good with
Abraham as well as with his seed, the organic connection was
marked between the one and the other, and the things that
belonged to him were made known as the beginning of the
end. The blessing to be brought to the world through his line
had even in his time a present though small realization — pre-
cisely as the kingdom of Christ had its commencement in that
of David, and the one ultimately merged into the other. And
so, in Abraham as the living root of all that was to follow, the
whole ami every part may be said to take its rise; and not only
was Christ after the flesh of the seed of Abraham, but each
believer in Christ is a son of Abraham, and the entire company
of the redeemed shall have their place and their portion with
Abraham in the kingdom of God.

Such being the case with the call of Abraham — in its
objects so high, and its results so grand and comprehensive —
it is manifest that the immediate limitations connected with it,
in regard to a fleshly offspring and a worldly inheritance, must
only have been intended to serve as temporary expedients and
fit stepping-stones for the ulterior purposes in view. And such
Statements regarding the covenant with Abraham, as that it

merely secured to Abraham a posterity, and to that posterity

the possession of the land of Canaan for 8J1 inheritance, on the
condition of their acknowledging Jehovah as their God, is to
read the terms of the covenant with a microscope — magnifying
the little, and leaving the great altogether unnoticed — in the

350 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

preliminary means losing sight of the prospective end.1 Another
thing also, and one more closely connected with our present
subject, is equally manifest; which is, that since the entire
scheme of blessing had its root in Abraham, it must also have
had its representation in him — he, in his position and character
and fortunes, must have been the type of that which was to
come. Such uniformly is God's plan, in respect to those whom
it constitutes heads of a class, or founders of a particular dis-
pensation. It was so, first of all, with Adam, in whom humanity
itself was imaged. It was so again in a measure with the three
sons of Noah, whose respective states and procedure gave pro-
phetic indication of the more prominent characteristics that
should distinguish their offspring. Such, too, at a future
period, and much more remarkably, wras the case with David,
in whom, as the befnnnintr and root of the everlasting kinorlom,
there was presented the foreshadowing type of all that should
essentially belong to the kingdom, when represented by its
divine head, and set up in its proper dimensions. Nor could
it now be properly otherwise with Abraham. The very terms
of the call, which singled him out from the mass of the world,
and set him on high, constrain us to regard him as in the
strictest sense a representative man — in himself and the things
belonging to his immediate heirs, the type at once of the sub-
jective and the objective design of the covenant, or, in other
words, of the kind of persons who were to be the subjects and
channels of blessing, and of the kind of inheritance with which
they were to be blessed. It is for the purpose of exhibiting
this clearly and distinctly, and thereby rendering the things
written of Abraham and his immediate offspring a revelation,
in the strictest sense, of God's mind and will recjardins the
more distant future, that this portion of patriarchal history
was constructed. Abraham himself, in the first instance, was
the covenant head and the type of what was to come ; but as
the family of the Israelites were to be the collective bearers and
representatives of the covenant, so, not Abraham alone, but the
whole of their immediate progenitors, who were alike heads of
the covenant people — along with Abraham, Isaac also, and

1 See, for example, Israel after the Flesh, by the Rev. William H.
Johnstone, pp. 7, 8.

CHANGE IX THE CALL, ABRAHAM. 351

Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs — possess a typical character.
It shall be our object, therefore, in the two remaining sections
— which must necessarily extend to a considerable length — to
present the more prominent features of the instruction intended

to be conveyed in both of the respects now mentioned — first in
regard to the subjects and channels of blessing, and then in
regard to the inheritance destined for their possession.

SECTION FIFTH.

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING — ABRAHAM AND
ISAAC, JACOB AND THE TWELVE PATRIAPtCHS.

The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob may be classed
together on account of their beinc; alike covenant heads to the
children of Israel; yet we are not to lose sight of the fact
that Abraham was more especially the person with whom the
covenant took its commencement, and in whom it had its more
distinctive representation. Accordingly, it is in connection with
him that we are furnished with the most specific and varied
information respecting the nature of the covenant, and the
manner in which it was to reach its higher ends. We shall
therefore look, in the first instance, to what is written of him ;
conjoining with this, however, the notices we have of Isaac,
since what is chiefly interesting and important about Isaac
concerns him as the seed, for which Abraham was immediately
called to look and wait ; and as regards the greater lines of
instruction, the lives of the two are inseparably knit together.
The same also, to a considerable extent, may be said of Jacob
and the twelve patriarchs : the history given of them, viewed
as a special instruction for the covenant people, forms but one
piece, and in its more prospective bearings also will be most
appropriately taken as a connected series.

I. Abraham, then, is called to be in a peculiar sense the
possessor and dispenser of blessing ; to be himself blessed, and,
through the seed that is to spring from him, to be a blessing to
the whole race of mankind. A divine-like calling and destiny !
for it is God alone who is properly the source and giver of
blessing. Abraham, therefore, by his very appointment, is
raised into a supernatural relationship to God ; he is to be in
direct communication with Heaven, and to receive all from
above ; God is to work, in a special manner, for him and by

Sa2

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING.

him ; and the people that are to spring out of him, for a bless-
ing to other peoples, are to arise, not in the ordinary course of
nature, but above ami beyond it, as the benefits also they are
to be the instruments of diffusing touch on men's relation to the
spiritual and divine. As a necessary counterpart to this, and
the indispensable condition of its accomplishment, there must
be in Abraham a principle of faith, such as might qualify him
for transacting with God, in regard to the higher interests of
the covenant. These were not seen or present, and were also
inge, to the apprehension of sense unlikely or even im-
possible : yet were not the less to be regarded as sure in the
destination of Heaven, and to be looked and waited for, also,
if need be, striven and suffered for by men. This principle of
faith must evidently be the fundamental and formative power
in Abraham's bosom — the very root of his new being, the life
of his life — at once making him properly receptive of the
divine goodness, and readily obedient to the divine will — in
the one respect giving scope for the display of God's wonders
in his behalf, and in the other prompting him to act in accord-
ance with God's righteous ends and purposes. So it actually
was. Abraham was pre-eminently a man of faith; and on that
account was raised to the honourable distinction of the Father
of the Faithful. And faith in him proved not only a capacity
to receive, but a hand also to work; and is scarcely less re-
markable for what it brought to his experience from the grace
and power of God, than for the sustaining, elevating, and
sanctifying influence which it shed over his life and conduct.
There are particularly three stages, each rising in succession
above the other, in which this will be found to have been
exemplified.

1. The first is that of the divine call itself, which came to
Abraham while still living among his kindred in the land of
Mesopotamia.' Even in this original form of the divine pur-
pose concerning him. the supernatural element is conspicuous.

To say nothing of its more general provisions, that he, a M
p itamian shepherd, should be made surpassingly great, and

should even be a source of blessing to all tin.' families of tin-
earth — to say nothing of these, which might appear incredible

1 Gen. xii. 1
\ i :.. i. z

354 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

only from their indefinite vastness and comprehension, the two
specific promises in the call, that a great nation should be made
of him, and that another land — presently afterwards determined
to be the land of Canaan — should be given him for an inherit-
ance, both lay beyond the bounds of the natural and the
probable. At the time the call was addressed to Abraham, he
was already seventy-five years old, and his wife Sarah, being
only ten years younger, must have been sixty-five.1 For such
persons to be constituted parents, and parents of an offspring
that should become a great nation, involved at the very outset
a natural impossibility, and could only be made good by a
supernatural exercise of divine omnipotence — a miracle. Nor
was it materially different in regard to the other part of the
promise ; for it is expressly stated, when the particular land to
be given was pointed out to him, that the Canaanite was then
in the land.2 It was even then an inhabited territory, and by
no ordinary concurrence of events could be expected to become
the heritage of the yet unborn posterity of Abraham. It could
only be looked for as the result of God's direct and special
interposition in their behalf.

Yet, incredible as the promise seemed in both of its depart-
ments, Abraham believed the word spoken to him ; he had faith
to accredit the divine testimony, and to take the part which it
assigned him. Both were acquired — a receiving of the promise
first, and then an acting with a view to it ; for, on the ground
of such great things being destined for him, he was commanded
to leave his proper home and kindred, and go forth under the
divine guidance to the new territory to be assigned him. In
this command was discovered the inseparable connection be-
tween faith and holiness ; or between the call of Abraham to
receive distinguishing and supernatural blessing, and his call to
lead a life of sincere and devoted obedience. He was singled
out from the world's inhabitants to begin a new order of things,
which were to bear throughout the impress of God's special
grace and almighty power ; and he must separate himself from
the old things of nature, to be in his life the representative of
God's holiness, as in his destiny he was to be the monument of
God's power and goodness.

1 Gen. xii. 4, xvii. 17. 2 Gen. xii. 6.

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 355

It is this exercise of faith in Abraham which is first exhibited
in the Epistle to the Hebrews, as bespeaking a mighty energy
in its working ; the more especially as the exchange in the case
of Abraham and his immediate descendants did not prove by
any means agreeable to nature. ' By faith Abraham, when he
was called to go out into a place which he should after receive
for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing
whither he went. By faith lie sojourned in the land of promise,
as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and
Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.' It may seem,
indeed, at this distance of place and time, as if there were no
treat difference in the condition of Abraham and his house-
hold, in the one place as compared with the other. But it was
quite otherwise in reality. They had, first of all, to break
asunder the ties of home and kindred, which nature always shrinks
from, especially in mature age, even though it may have the
prospect before it of a comfortable settlement in another region.
This sacrifice they had to make in the fullest sense: it was in
their case a strictly final separation ; they were to be absolutely
done with the old and its endearments, and to cleave henceforth
to the new. Not only so, but their immediate position in the
new was not like that which they had formerly in the old : settled
possessions in the one, but in the other only a kind of tolerated
position, mere lodging-room among strangers, and a life on pro-
vidence. Nature does not love a change like that, and can only
regard it, as quitting the certainties of sight for the seeming un-

:ainties of faith and hope. These, however, were still but the
smaller trials which Abraham's faith had to encounter ; for, along
with the change in his outward condition, there came responsi-
bilities and duties altogether alien to nature's feelings, and con-
trary to its spirit. In his old country he followed his own way,

and walked after the course of the world, having no bj ial work

to do, nor any calling of B more solemn kind to fulfil. But now,
by obeying the call of Heaven, he was brought into immediate
connection with a spiritual and holy God, became charged in a
manner with His interest in the world, and bound, in the face
of surrounding enmity or scorn, faithfully to maintain His cause,
and promote the glory of His name. To do this was in truth
to renounce nature, and rise superior to it. And it was done,

356 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

let it be remembered, out of regard to prospects which could
only be realized if the power of God should forsake its wonted
channels of working, and perform what the carnal mind would
have deemed it infatuation to look for. Even in that first stage
of the patriarch's course, there was a noble triumph of faith,
and the earnest of a life replenished with the fruits of righteous-
ness.

It is true, the promise thus given at the commencement was
not uniformly sustained ; and Abraham was not long in Canaan
till there seemed to be a failure on the part of God toward him,
and there actually was a failure on his part toward God. The
occurrence of a famine leads him to take refuge for a time in
Egypt, which was even then the granary of that portion of
the East ; and he is tempted, through fear of his personal safety,
to equivocate regarding Sarah, and call her his sister. The
equivocation is certainly not to be justified, either on this or en
the future occasion on which it was again resorted to ; for though
it contained a half truth, this was so employed as to render i the
half truth a whole lie.' We are rather to refer both circum-
stances— his repairing to Egypt, and when there betaking to
such a worldly expedient for safety — as betraying the imperfec-
tion of his faith, which, while strong enough to set him on this
new course of separation from the world and devotedness to
God, still wanted clearness of discernment and implicitness of
trust sufficient to meet the unexpected difficulties that so early
presented themselves in the way. Strange indeed had it been
otherwise ! It was necessary that the faith of Abraham, like
that of believers generally, should learn by experience, and
even grow by its temporary defeats. The first failure on the
present occasion stood in his seeking relief from the emergency
that arose by withdrawing, without the divine sanction, to
another country than that into which he had been conducted by
the special providence of God. Instead of looking up for direc-
tion and support, he betook to worldly shifts and expedients,
and thus became entangled in difficulties, out of which the im-
mediate interposition of God alone could have rescued him. In
this way, however, the result proved beneficial. Abraham was
made to feel, in the first instance, that his backsliding had
reproved him ; and then the merciful interposition of Heaven,

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 357

rebuking even a king for his sake, taught him the lesson, that
with the God of heaven upon his side, he had no need to be
afraid for the outward evils that might beset him in his course.
He had bat to look up in faith, and get the direction or support
that lie needed.

The condnct of Abraham, immediately after his return to
Canaan, gave ample evidence of the general stedfastness and
elevated purity of his course. Though travelling about as a
Stranger in the land, he makes all around him feel that it is
a blessed tiling to bo connected with him, and that it would be
well for them if the land really were in his possession. The
quarrel that presently arose between Lot's herdsmen and his
own, merely furnished the occasion for his disinterested gene-
rosity, in waiving his own rights, and allowing to his kinsman
the priority and freedom of choice. And another quarrel of a
graver kind — that of the war between the four kings in higher
Asia, and of the five small dependent sovereigns in the south
of Canaan — drew forth still nobler manifestations of the large
and self-sacrificing spirit that filled his bosom. Regarding the
unjust capture of Lot as an adequate reason for taking part in
the conflict, he went courageously forth with his little band of
trained servants, overthrew the conquerors, and recovered all
that had been lost. Yet, at the very moment he displayed the
victorious energy of his faith, by discomfiting this mighty army,
how strikingly did he at the same time exhibit its patience in
declining to use the advantage he then gained to hasten for-
ward the purposes of God concerning his possession of the land,
and its moderation of spirit, its commanding superiority to
merely worldly ends and objects, in refusing to take even the
smallest portion of the goods of the king of Sodom ! Nay, so
far from seeking to exalt self by pressing outward advantages
and worldly resources, his spirit of faith, leading him to recog-
nise the hand of God in the success that had been won, cau
him to bow down in humility, and do homage to the Most High
Q-od in the person of His priest Melchizedek. He gave this
Melchizedek tithes of all, and as himself the less, received
blessing from Melchizedek as the greater.

Viewed thus merely as a mark of the humble and reverent

spirit of Abraham, the offspring of his faith in God, this notice

358 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

of his relation to Melchizedek is interesting. But other things
of a profounder nature were wrapt up in the transaction, which
the pen of inspiration did not fail afterwards to elicit,1 and
which it is proper to glance at before we pass on to another
stage of the patriarch's history. The extraordinary circum-
stance of such a person as a priest of the Most High God,
whom even Abraham acknowledged to be such, starting up all
at once in the devoted land of Canaan, and vanishing out of
sight almost as soon as he appeared, has given rise, from the
earliest times, to numberless conjectures. Ham, Shem, Noah,
Enoch, an angel, Christ, the Holy Spirit, have each, in the
hands of different persons, been identified with this Melchizedek;
but the view now almost universally acquiesced in is, that he
was simply a Canaanite sovereign, who combined with his royal
dignity as king of Salem2 the office of a true priest of God.
No other supposition, indeed, affords a satisfactory explanation
of the narrative. The very silence observed regarding his
origin, and the manner of his appointment to the priesthood,
was intentional, and served both to stimulate thought concern-
ing the circumstances of the case, and to bring it into a closer
correspondence with the ultimate realities. The more remark-
able peculiarity was, that to this person, simply because he was
a righteous king and priest of the Most High God, Abraham,
the elect of God, the possessor of the promises, paid tithes, and
received from him a blessing ; and did it, too, at the very time
he stood so high in honour, and kept himself so carefully aloof
from another king then present — the king of Sodom. He

1 Ps. ex. 4 ; Heb. vii.

2 No stress is laid on the particular place of which he was king, except-
ing that, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, its meaning (Peace) is viewed as
symbolic ; — only, however, for the purpose of bringing out the idea, that
this singular person Avas really what his name and the name of his place
imported. He was in reality a righteous king, and a prince of peace. But
there seems good reason to believe the Jewish tradition well founded, that
Salem is the abbreviated name of Jerusalem. Hence it is put for Jerusalem
in Ps. lxxvi. 2. And the correctness of the opinion is confirmed by the
mention of the king's dale, in Gen. xiv. 17, which from 2 Sam. xviii. 18
can scarcely be supposed to have been far from Jerusalem. The name also
of Adonaizedek, synonymous with Melchizedek; as that of the king of Jeru-
salem in Joshua's time (Josh. x. 3), is a still further confirmation.

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 359

placed himself as conspicuously below the one personage as he

raised himself above the other. Why should he have done
so? lnvau-e Melchizedek already in a measure possessed what
Abraham still only hoped for — he reigned where Abraham's

desti I to reign, and exercised a priesthood which

in future generations was to be committed to them. The union
of the two in Melchizedek was in itself a great thing — greater
than the -separate offices of kiug and priest in the houses re-
spectively of David ami Aaron ; but it was an expiring great-
ness : it was like the last blossom on the old rod of Noah,
which thenceforth became as a dry tree. In Abraham, on the
other hand, was the germ of a new and higher order of things
— the promise, though still only the budding promise, of a
better inheritance of blessing ; and when the seed should come
in whom the promise was more especially to stand, then the
more general and comprehensive aspect of the Melchizedek
order was to reappear, and find its embodiment in one who
could at once place it on firmer ground, and carry it to un-
speakably higher results. Here, then, was a sacred enigma
for the heart of faith to ponder, and for the spirit of truth
adually to unfold : Abraham, in one respect, relatively great,
and in another relatively little; personally inferior to Mel-
chizedek, and yet the root of ^a seed that was to do for the
world incomparably more than Melchizedek had done ; himself
the type of a higher than Melchizedek, and yet Melchizedek a
more peculiar type than he ! It was a mystery that could be
disclose 1 only in partial glimpse's beforehand, but which now
has become comparatively plain by the person and work of
Emmanuel. What but the wonder-working finger of God
could have so admirably fitted the past to be such a singular
image of the future !

There are points connected with this subject that will natu-
rally fall to be noticed at a later period, when we come to treat
of the Aaronic priesthood, and other points also, though of a
minor kind, belonging to this earlier portion of Abraham's
history, which we cannot particularly notice. We proceed to
the -nd stage in the development of his spiritual lite.

_. This consisted in the establishment of the covenant be-
tween him and God; which falls, however, into two parts:

360 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

one earlier in point of time, and in its own nature incomplete ;
the other, both the later and the more perfect form.

It would seem as if, after the stirring transactions connected
with the victory over Checlorlaomer and his associates, and the
interview with Melchizedek, the spirit of Abraham had sunk
into depression and fear ; for the next notice we have respecting
him represents God as appearing to him in vision, and bidding
him not to be afraid, since God Himself was his shield and his
exceeding great reward. It is not improbable that some appre-
hension of a revenge on the part of Chedorlaomer might haunt
his bosom, and that he might begin to dread the result of such
an unequal contest as he had entered on with the powers of
the world. But it is clear also, from the sequel, that another
thing preyed upon his spirits, and that he was filled with con-
cern on account of the long delay that was allowed to intervene
before the appearance of the promised seed. He still went
about childless ; and the thought could not but press upon his
mind, of what use were other things to him, even of the most
honourable kind, if the great thing, on which all his hopes for
the future turned, were still withheld % The Lord graciously
met this natural misgiving by the assurance, that not any son
by adoption merely, but one from his own loins, should be
given him for an heir. And to make the matter more palpable
to his mind, and take external nature, as it were, to witness for
the fulfilment of the word, the Lord brought him forth, and,
pointing to the stars of heaven, declared to him, ' So shall thy
seed be.' ' And he believed in the Lord/ it is said, ' and He
counted it to him for righteousness.' x

This historical statement re^ardino; Abraham's faith is re-
markable, as it is the one so strenuously urged by the Apostle
Paul in his argument for justification by faith alone in the
righteousness of Christ.2 And the question has been keenly
debated, whether it was the faith itself which was in God's
account taken for righteousness, or the righteousness of God
in Christ, which that faith prospectively laid hold of. Our
wisdom here, however, and in all similar cases, is not to press
the statements of Old Testament Scripture so as to render
them explicit categorical deliverances on Christian doctrine, —
1 Gen. xv. 1-G. 2 Rom. iv. 18-22.

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING.

in wliicli case violence must inevitably be done to them, — but
rather to catch the genera] principle embodied in them, and
■live it a fair application to the more distinct revelations of the
Gospel. This is precisely what is done by St. Paul. He does
not say a word about the specific manifestation of the right-
eousness of God in Christ, when arguing from the statement.
respecting the righteousness of faith in Abraham. He lays
stivss simply upon the natural impossibilities that stood in the
way of God's promise of a numerous offspring to Abraham
being fulfilled — the comparative deadness both of his own body
and of Sarah's— and on the implicit confidence Abraham had,
notwithstanding, in the power and faithfulness of God, that
He would perform what lie had promised. 'Therefore,' adds
the apostle, 'it was imputed to him for righteousness.' There-
fore— namely, because through faith he so completely lost sight
of nature and self, and realized with nndoubting confidence
the sufficiency of the divine arm, and the certainty of its work-
ing. His faith was nothing more, nothing else, than the re-
nunciation of all virtue and strength in himself, and a hanging
in childlike trust upon God for what He was able and willing
to do. Not, therefore, a mere substitute for a righteousness
that was wanting, an acceptance of something that could be
had for something better that failed, but rather the vital prin-
ciple of a righteousness in God — the acting of a soul in nnisoii
with the mind of God, and finding its life, its hope, its all in
Him. Transfer such a faith to the field of the Now Testa-
ment— bring it into contact with the manifestation of God in
the person and work of Christ for the salvation of the world,
and what would inevitably be its language but that of the
apostle : ' God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of
the Lord Jesus ( Jurist,1 — ' not my own righteousness, which is
of the law, but that which is of God through faith !'

To return to Abraham. Winn he had attained to such
confiding faith in the divine word respecting the promised seed,
the Lord gave him an equally distinct assurance respecting the

promised land; and in answer to Abraham's question, 'Lord

God, whereby shall 1 know that I shall inherit it?' the Lord
' made a covenant with him' respecting it, by means of a sym-
bolical sacrificial action. It was a covenant by blood ; for in

3G2 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the very act of establishing the union, it was meet there should
be a reference to the guilt of man, and a provision for purging
it away. The very materials of the sacrifice have here a specific
meaning ; the greater sacrifices, those of the heifer, the goat,
and the ram, being expressly fixed to be of three years old —
pointing to the three generations which Abraham's posterity
were to pass in Egypt ; and these, together with the turtle-dove
and the young pigeon, comprising a full representation of the
animals afterwards offered in sacrifice under the law. As the
materials, so also the form of the sacrifice was symbolical — the
animals being divided asunder, and one piece laid over against
another; for the purpose of more distinctly representing the
two parties in the transaction — two, and yet one — meeting and
acting together in one solemn offering. Recognising Jehovah
as the chief party in what was taking place, Abraham waits
for the divine manifestation, and contents himself with meau-
while driving away the ill-omened birds of prey that flocked
around the sacrifice. At last, when the shades of night had
fallen, ' a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between
those pieces ' — the glory of the Lord Himself, as so often after-
wards, in a pillar of cloud and fire. Passing under this emblem
through the divided sacrifice, He formally accepted it, and struck
the covenant with His servant.1 At the same time, also, a pro-
found sleep had fallen upon Abraham, and a horror of great
darkness — symbolical of the outward humiliations and suffer-
ings through which the covenant was to reach its accomplish-
ment; and in explanation the announcement was expressly
made to him, that his posterity should be in bondage and
affliction four hundred years in a foreign land, and should then,
in the fourth generation, be brought up from it with great
substance.2 In justification, also, of the long delay, the specific

1 Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19.

2 The notes of litre here given for the period of the sojourn in Egypt
are somewhat indefinite. The 400 years is plainly mentioned as a round
sum ; it was afterwards more precisely and historically defined as 430
(Ex. xii. 40, 41). From the juxtaposition of the 400 years and the fourth
generation in the words to Abraham, the one must be understood as nearly
equivalent to the other, and the period must consequently be regarded as
that of the actual residence of the children of Israel in Egypt, from the
descent of Jacob — not, as many after the Scptnagint, from the time of

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING.

reason was given, that ' the iniquity of the Amorites was not
yet full,' — plainly importing that this part of the divine pro-
cedure h:ul a moral aim, and could only be carried into effect
in accordance with the great principles of the divine righteous-
ness.

The covenant was thus established in both its branches, yet
only in an imperfect manner, if respect were had to the coming
future, and even to the full bearing and import of the covenant

If. Abraham had got a present sign of God's formally
entering into covenant with him for the possession of the land
of Canaan ; but it came and went like a troubled vision of the
night. There was needed something of a more tangible and
permanent kind — an abiding, sacramental covenant signature
— which by its formal institution on God's part, and its believ-
ing appropriation on the part of Abraham and his seed, might
serve as a mutual sign of covenant engagements. This was the
more necessary, as the next step in Abraham's procedure but
too clearly manifested that he still wanted light regarding the
nature of the covenant, and in particular regarding the super-
natural, the essentially divine, character of its provisions. From
the prolonged barrenness of Sarah, and her now advanced

■, it began to be imagined that Sarah possibly might not
be included in the promise, — the rather so, as no express men-
tion hal been made of her in the previous intimations of the
divine purpose. Despairing, therefore, of having herself any
share in the fulfilment of the promised word, she suggested
that the fulfilment might be sought by the substitution of her
bondmaid llagar — a suggestion Abraham too readily adopted.
For it was resorting again to an expedient of the flesh to get
0V< r a present difficulty, and it was soon followed by its meet
retribution in providence — domestic troubles and vexations.

Abraham. For the t genealogies exhibit four generations between

that period and the exodus. Cooking at the genealogical table of Levi
m. it; s<[.), L20 years might aot unfairly !»■ takes as an average life-
time or generation; so that three <>f these complete, and a pari <>i
fourth, would easily make 480. In Gal. iii. 17 the latt i> spoken of a- only

is after the covenant with Abraham ; but the apostle merelj
to the known historical period, and regards the firs! formation of the cove-
nant with Abraham as all one with its final ratificatiOD with Jacob.

3G4 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

The bondmaid had been raised out of her proper place, and
began to treat Sarah, the legitimate spouse of Abraham, with
contempt. And had she even repressed her improper feelings,
and brought forth a child in the midst of domestic peace and
harmony, yet a son so born — after the ordinary course of nature,
and in compliance with one of her corrupter usages — could not
have been allowed to stand as the representative of that seed
through which blessing was to come to the world.

On both accounts, therefore — first, to give more explicit
information regarding the son to be born, and then to provide a
significant and lasting signature of the covenant — another and
more perfect ratification of it took place. The word which
introduced this new scene, expressed the substance and design
of the whole transaction : 'lam God Almighty: walk before
me, and be thou perfect : ' 1 — On my part there is power amply
sufficient to accomplish what I have promised : whatever natural
difficulties may stand in the way, the whole shall assuredly be
done ; only see that on your part there be a habitual recogni-
tion of my presence, and a stedfast adherence to the path of
rectitude and purity. What follows is simply a filling up of
this general outline — a more particular announcement of what
God on His part should do, and then of what Abraham and
his posterity were to do on the other. ' As for me ' (literally, I
— i.e. on my part), ' behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou
shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any
more be called Abram ; but thy name shall be Abraham : for
a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make
thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and
kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant
between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their genera-
tions, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and
to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy
seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the
land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession ; and I will be
their God.' This was God's part in the covenant, to which He
immediately subjoined, by way of explanation, that the seed
more especially meant in the promise was to be of Sarah as well
as Abraham ; that she was to renew her youth, and have a son,

1 Geu. xvii. 1.

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 3G5

and that her name also was to be changed in accordance with
her new position. Then follows what was expected ami re-
quired on the other side : ' And God said unto Abraham, And
thou' (this now is thy part), 'my covenant shalt thou keep,
thou, and thy seed after thee; Every male among you shall be
circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your fore-
skin ; and it shall be for a covenant-sign betwixt me and you.
And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised to you, every
male in your generations ; he that is born in the house, or
bought with money of any strang<T, that is not of thy seed.
.... And my covenant shall be in your flesh for an ever-
lasting covenant. And uncircumcision' (i.e. pollution, abomi-
nation) 'is the male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his
foreskin ; and cut off is that soul from his people ; he has
broken mv covenant.'

There is no need for going into the question whether this
ordinance of circumcision was now for the first time introduced
among men ; or whether it was already to some extent in use,
and was simply adopted by God as a fit and significant token
of His covenant. It is comparatively of little moment how
such a question may be decided. The same principle may
have been acted on here, which undoubtedly had a place in the
modelling of the Mosaic institutions, and which will be dis-
cussed and vindicated when we come to consider the influence
rcised by the learning of Moses on his subsequent legislation
— the principle, namely, of taking from the province of religion
nerally a symbolical sign or action, that was capable, when
associated with the true religion, of fitly expressing its higher
truths and principles. The probability is, that this principle
was recognised and acted on hen.1. Circumcision has been
practised among classes of people and nations who cannot
reasonably be supposed to have derived it from the family of
Abraham— among the ancients, for example, by tin- Egyptian
priesthood, and among the moderns by native tribes in America
and the islands of tic Pacific. Its extensive prevalence and
long continuance can only be accounted lor on the ground that
it has a foundation in the workings of tin- natural conscience,
which, like the distinctions into clean ami unclean, or the p
Bentation of tithes, may have led to its employment before the

306 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

time of Abraham, and also fitted it afterwards for serving as the
peculiar sign of God's covenant with him. At the same time, as
it was henceforth intended to be a distinctive badge of covenant
relationship, it could not have been generally practised in the
region where the chosen family were called to live and act.
From the purpose to which it was applied, we may certainly
infer that it formed at once an appropriate and an easily recog-
nised distinction between the race of Abraham and the families
and nations by whom they were more immediately surrounded.
Among the race of Abraham, however, it had the widest
application given to it. While God so far identified it with
His covenant as to suspend men's interest in the one upon
their observance of the other, it was with His covenant in its
wider aspect and bearing — not simply as securing either an
offspring after the flesh, or the inheritance for that offspring of
the land of Canaan. It was comparatively but a limited por-
tion of Abraham's actual offspring who were destined to grow
into a separate nation, and occupy as their home the territory
of Canaan. At the very outset Ishmael was excluded, though
constituted the head of a great nation. And yet not only he,
but all the members of Abraham's household, were alike ordered
to receive the covenant signature. Nay, even in later times,
when the children of Israel had grown into a distinct people,
and everything was placed under the strict administration of
law, it was always left open to people of other lands and tribes
to enter into the bonds of the covenant through the rite of cir-
cumcision. This rite, therefore, must have had a significance
for them, as well as for the more favoured seed of Jacob. It
spoke also to their hearts and consciences, and virtually declared
that the covenant which it symbolized had nothing in its main
design of an exclusive and contracted spirit ; that its greater
things lay open to all who were willing to seek them in the
appointed way ; and that if at first there were individual per-
sons, and afterwards a single people, who were more especially
identified with the covenant, it was only to mark them out as
the chosen representatives of its nature and objects, and to
constitute them lights for the instruction and benefit of others.
There never was a more evident misreading of the palpable
facts of history than appears in the disposition so often mani-

TIIK SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 367

fested to limit the rite of circumcision to one line merely of
Abraham's posterity, and to regard it as the mere outward badge

of an external national distinction.

It is to be held, then, as certain in regard to the sign of the
covenant as in regard to the covenant itself, that its more
special and marked connection with individuals was only for
the Bake of more effectually helping forward its general design.
And not less firmly is it to be held that the outwardness in the
rite was for the sake of the inward and spiritual truths it sym-
bolized. It was appointed as the distinctive badge of the cove-
nant, because it was peculiarly fitted for symbolically expressing
the spiritual character and design of the covenant. It marked
the condition of everyone who received it, as having to do both
with higher powers and higher objects than those of corrupt
nature, as the condition of one brought into blessed fellowship
with God, and therefore called to walk before Him and be per-
fect. There would be no difficulty in perceiving this, nor any
material difference of opinion upon the subject, if people would
but look beneath the surface, and, in the true spirit of the
ancient religion, would contemplate the outward as an image of
the inward. The general purport of the covenant was, that,
from Abraham as an individual there was to be generated a seed
of blessing, in which all real blessing was to centre, and from
which it was to flow to the cuds of the earth. There could not,
therefore, be a more appropriate sign of the covenant than this
rite of circumcision — so directly connected with the generation
of offspring, and so distinctly marking the necessary purification
of nature — the removal of the tilth of the flesh — that the off-
spring might be such as really to constitute a seed of blessing.
It i- through ordinary generation that the corruption incident
on the fall is propagated; and hence, under tin- law. which
contained a regular system of symbolical teaching, there were
so many occasions of defilement originating in this source, and so

many means of purification appointed for them. Now, there-
fore, when God was establishing a covenant, the great, object of
which was to reverse the propagation of evil, to secure i I

that should be itself blessed, and a source of blessing to the
world, He affixed to the covenant this symbolical rite — to show
that the end was to be reached, not as the result of nature's

3G8 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

ordinary productiveness, but of nature purged from its unclean-
ness — nature raised above itself, in league with the grace of
God, and bearing on it the distinctive impress of His charac-
ter and working. It taught the circumcised man to regard
Jehovah as his bridegroom, to whom he had become espoused,
as it were, by blood, and that he must no longer follow the
unregulated will and impulse of nature, but live in accordance
with the high relation he occupied, and the sacred calling he
had received.1

Most truly, therefore, does the apostle say that Abraham
received circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the
faith which he had 2 — a divine token in his own case that he
had attained through faith to such fellowshio with God, and
righteousness in Him — and a token for every child that should
afterwards receive it ; not indeed that he actually possessed
the same, but that he was called to possess it, and had a right
to the privileges and hopes which might enable him to attain
to the possession. Most truly also does the apostle say in
another place : 3 ' He is not a Jew which is one outwardly (i.e.
not a Jew in the right sense, not such an one as God would
recognise and own) ; neither is that circumcision which is out-
ward in the flesh : But he is a Jew which is one inwardly : and
circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the
letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.' The very
design of the covenant was to secure a seed with these inward
and spiritual characteristics ; and the sign of the covenant, the
outward impression in the flesh, was worthless, a mere external
concision — as the apostle calls it, when it came to be alone 4 —

1 Ex. iv. 25. It may also be noted, that by this quite natural and
fundamental view of the ordinance, subordinate peculiarities admit of
an easy explanation. For example, the limitation of the sign to males
— which in the circumstances could not be otherwise ; though the
special purifications under the law for women might justly be regarded
as providing for them a sort of counterpart. Then, the fixing on the
eighth day as the proper one for the rite — that being the first day after
the revolution of an entire week of separation from the mother, and when
fully withdrawn from connection with the parent's blood, it began to live
and breathe in its own impurity. (See further Imperial Bible Diet., art.
Circumcision.)

2 Rom. iv. 11. 3 Rom. ii. 28, 29. 4 Phil. iii. 2.

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 369

excepting in so far as it was the expression of the corresponding
reality. Isaac, the first child of promise, was the fitting type
of such a covenant. In the peculiarities connected with his
entrance into life, lie was a Bign to all coming aires of what the
covenant required and sought; — not begotten till Abraham him-
self bore the symbol of nature's purification, nor horn till it was
evident the powers of nature must have been miraculously vivified
for the purpose; so that in his very conception and birth Isaac
was emphatically a child of God. But in being so, Ik- was the
exact type of what the covenant properly aimed at, ami what
its expressive symbol betokened, viz. a spiritual seed, in which
the divine and human, grace and nature, should meet together
in producing true subjects and channels of blessing. But its
actual representation — the one complete and perfect embodi-
ment of all it symbolized and sought — was the Lord Jesus
Christ, in whom the divine and human met from the first, not
in co-operative merely, but in organic union ; and consequently
the result produced was a Being free from all taint of corrup-
tion, holy, harmless, undefiled, the express image of the Father,
the very righteousness of God. lie alone fully realized the
conditions of blessing exhibited in the covenant, and was quali-
fied to be in the largest sense the seed-corn of a harvest of
blessing for the whole field of humanity.

It is true — and those who take their notions of realities from
appearances alone, will doubtless reckon it a sufficient reply to
what has been said — that the portion of Abraham's seed who
afterwards became distinctively the covenant people — Israel after
the llesh — were by no means such subjects and channels of
blessing as we have des< ribed, but were to a large extent carnal,
having only that circumcision which is outward in the llesh.
What then '. Had they still a title to be recognised as the
children of the covenant, and a right, as such, to the temporal
inheritance connected with it I By no means. This were sub-
stantially to make void God's ordinance, which could not, any
more than His other ordinances, be merely Outward. It an
from His essential nature, as the God of righteousness and truth,
that He should ever require from His people what is accordant
with His own character; and that when lie appoints outward
signs and ordinances, it is only with a view to spiritual and moral
VOL. I. 2 A

370 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

ends. Where the outward alone exists, He cannot own its
validity. Christ certainly did not. For, when arguing with
the Jews of His own day, He denied on this very ground that
their circumcision made them the children of Abraham : they
were not of his spirit, and did not perform his works ; and so, in
Christ's account, their natural connection both with Abraham
and with the covenant went for nothing.1 Their circumcision
was a sign without any signification. And if so then, it must
equally have been so in former times. The children of Israel
had no right to the benefits of the covenant merely because they
had been outwardly circumcised ; nor were any promises made
to them simply as the natural seed of Abraham. Both elements
had to meet in their condition, the natural and the spiritual ;
the spiritual, however, more especially, and the natural only as
connected with the spiritual, and a means for securing it.
Hence Moses urged them so earnestly to circumcise their hearts^
as absolutely necessary to their getting the fulfilment of what
was promised ;2 and when the people as a whole had manifestly
not done this, circumcision itself, the sign of the covenant, was
suspended for a season, and the promises of the covenant were
held in abeyance, till they should come to learn aright the real
nature of their calling.3 Throughout, it was the election within
the election who really had the promises and the covenants ; and
none but those in whom, through the special working of God's
grace, nature was sanctified and raised to another position than
itself could ever have attained, were entitled to the blessing. If
in the land of Canaan, they existed by sufferance merely, and
not by right.

The bearing of all this on the ordinance of Christian baptism
cannot be overlooked, but it may still be mistaken. The rela-
tion between circumcision and baptism is not properly that of
tvpe and antitype ; the one is a symbolical ordinance as well as
the other, and both alike have an outward form and an inward
reality. It is precisely in such ordinances that the Old and the
New dispensations approach nearest to each other, and, we might
almost say, stand formally upon the same level. The difference
does not so much lie in the ordinances themselves, as in the
comparative amount of grace and truth respectively exhibited in

1 John viii. 31-44. 2 Deut. x. 1G. 3 Josh. v. 3-9.

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 371

them — necessarily less in the earlier, and more in the later. The
difference in external form was in each case conditioned by the
circumstances of the time. In circumcision it bore respect to
the propagation of offspring, as it was through the production of
a seed of blessing that the covenant, in its preparatory form,
was to attain In realization. But when the seed in that respect
had reached its culminating point in Christ, and the objects of
the covenant were no longer dependent on natural propaga-
tion of seed, but were to be carried forward by spiritual means
and influences used in connection with the faith of Christ, the
external ordinance was fitly altered, so as to express simply a
chance of nature and state in the individual that received it.

Undoubtedly the New Testament form less distinctly recogni
the connection between parent and child — we should rather say.
does not of itself recognise that connection at all ; so much ouidit
to be frankly conceded to those who disapprove of the practice of
infant baptism, and will be conceded by all whose object is to
ascertain the truth rather than contend for an opinion.

On the other hand, however, if we look, not to the form, but
to the substance, which ought here, as in other things, to be
chiefly regarded, we perceive an essential agreement — such as
is indeed marked by the apostle, when, speaking of those who
have been buried with Christ in baptism, he represents them
as having obtained 'the circumcision of Christ." So far from
being less indicative of a change of nature in the proper subjects
of it, circumcision was even more so ; in a more obvious and
palpable manner it bespoke the necessity of a deliverance from
the native corruption of the soul in those who should become
the true possessors of blessing. Hence the apostle makes use
of the earlier rite to explain the symbolical import of the later,
and describes the spiritual change indicated and required by
it as {a putting-off of the body of the sins of the flesh by
the circumcision of Christ/ and kha\iiiir the uncircumcision
of the flesh quickened together with Christ.' It would have
bi en travelling entirely in the wrong direction, to use such
language for purposes of explanation in Christian times, if the
ordinance of circumcision had not shadowed forth this spiritual
quickening and purification even more palpably and impressively

1 Col. ii. 11.

372 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

than baptism itself; and shadowed it forth, not prospectively
alone for future times, but immediately and personally for the
members of the Old Covenant. For, by the terms of the
covenant, these were ordained to be, not types of blessing only,
but also partakers of blessing. The good contemplated in the
covenant was to have its present commencement in their ex-
perience, as well as in the future a deeper foundation and a
more enlarged development. And the outward putting away
of the filth of the flesh in circumcision could never have sym-
bolized a corresponding inward purification for the members of
the New Covenant, if it had not first done this for the members
of the Old. The shadow must have a substance in the one case
as well as in the other.

Such being the case as to the essential agreement between
the two ordinances, an important element for deciding in regard
to the propriety of infant baptism may still, be derived from the
practice established in the rite of circumcision. The grand
principle of connecting parent and child together for the attain-
ment of spiritual objects, and marking the connection by an
impressive signature, was there most distinctly and broadly sanc-
tioned. And if the parental bond and its attendant obligations
be not weakened, but rather elevated and strengthened, by the
higher revelations of the Gospel, it would be strange indeed if
the liberty at least, nay, the propriety and right, if not the
actual obligation, to have their children brought by an initiatory
ordinance under the bond of the covenant, did not belong to
parents under the Gospel. The one ordinance no more than the
other ensures the actual transmission of the grace necessary to
effect the requisite change ; but it exhibits that grace — on the
part of God pledges it — and takes the subject of the ordinance
bound to use it for the accomplishment of the proper end.
Baptism does this now, as circumcision did of old ; and if it was
done in the one case through the medium of the parent to the
child, one does not see why it may not be done now, unless
positively prohibited, in the other. But since this is matter of
inference rather than of positive enactment, those who do not
feel warranted to make such an application of the principle of
the Old Testament ordinance to the New, should unquestionably
be allowed their liberty of thought and action ; if only, in the

THE SUBJECT? AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 373

vindication of that liberty, they do not seek to degrade circnm-
cision to a mere outward and political distinction, and thereby
break the continuity of the Church through successive dispensa-
tions.1

3. But we must now hasten to the third stage of Abraham's
career, which presents him on a still higher moral elevation
than he has yet reached, and view him as connected with the
sacrifice of Isaac. Between the establishment of the covenant
by the rite of circumcision, and this last stage of development,
there were not wanting occasions fitted to bring out the pre-
eminently holy character of his calling, and the dependence on

1 It is not necessary to <l> more than notice the statements of < ' ■ > 1 « ■ i - i ■ I _ ■ -
regarding circumcision (Aids to Reflection, i. p. 296), in which, as in Borne
others on purely theological subjects in his writings, one La even more -truck
with the unaccountable ignoring of fact displayed in the deliverance given,
than with the tone of assurance in which it is announced. ' Circumcision
was no sacrament at all, but the means and mark of national distinction.
.... Nor was it ever pretended that any grace was conferred with it,
or that the right was significant of any inward or spiritual operation."
Delitz ch, however, so far coincides with this view, as to deny (Genesis
Ausgelegt, p. 281 ) the sacramental character <>f circumcision. Bui he does
so on grounds that, in regard to circumcision, will not Btand examination ;
and, in regard to baptism, evidently proceed on the high Lutheran view of
the sacraments. He says, that while circumcision had a moral and mj

,:>d w;is intended ever to remind the subject of it of bis near
relation to Jehovah, and his obligation to walk worthy of this, still it was
'no vehicle of heavenly grace, of divine sanctifying power,1 'in itself a

without substance,' — as if it were ever designed to be by itself I
or as if baptism with water, by itself, were anything more than a mere
o ! Circumcision b i iped upon Abraham and his seed as the Bign

of the covenant, and so far identified with the covenant, in the appointment
of God, must have been a sign on God's pari as well as theirs; it could not
otherwise have been the Bign of a covenant, or mutual compact: it must,
therefore, have borne reaped to what God promised to be to Bis people,
not Less than what Bis people were to be to Bim. This is manifestly what
the apostle means, when he calls it a seal which Abraham received, a pi
from God of the ratification of the covenant, and consequently of all the
' it covenant promised. It had otherwise been no privilege to be
circumcised; since (,, be hound to do righteously, without being entitled to
look for grace corresponding, is simply to be placed under an intolerable

yoke.— I leave this latter statement unaltered, notwithstanding thai Mr.
Litton points me (Bamptan Lectures, p. 811) to Acts xv. 10, Beb. it L5,
and Gal. iv. 24, in proof that the apostlea did actually regard the elder

covenant a.- an intolerable yoke ; for it seems plain to me, that such passages

374 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

his maintaining this toward God of what God should be and do
toward him. This appears in the order he received from God
to cast Ishmael out of his house, when the envious, mocking
spirit of the youth too clearly showed that he had not the heart
of a true child of the covenant, and would not submit aright
to the arrangements of God concerning it. It appears also in
the free and familiar fellowship to which Abraham was ad-
mitted with the three heavenly visitants, whom he entertained
in his tent on the plains of Mamre, and the disclosure that
was made to him of the divine counsel respecting Sodom and
Gomorrah, expressly on the ground that the Lord ' knew he

point to the covenant of law rather than the covenant of promise, with
which circumcision in its original appointment and proper character was
associated. I have much pleasure, however, in substituting here, for what
was given in a previous edition, the following remarks of Mr. Litton, re-
garding the connection between circumcision and baptism, which substan-
tially coincide with what has been stated : ' In a looser sense, circumcision
may be considered as a sacrament. For baptism, too, is a symbolical
ordinance, perpetually reminding the Christian what his vocation is. Cir-
cumcision, moreover, was to the Jewish infant a seal, or formal confirma-
tion, of the promises of God, first made to the patriarch Abraham, and then
to his seed ; just as baptism now seals to us the higher promises of the
evangelical covenant.' Then, after noticing a change of view in regard to
the place held by circumcision in the Old Covenant, he says : ' The (natural)
birth of the Jew, which was the real ground of his privileges, answers to
the new birth of the Christian in its inner or essential aspect ; while cir-
cumcision, the rite by which the Jewish infant became a publicly acknow-
ledged member of the theocracy, corresponds to baptism, or the new birth
in its external aspect, to which sacrament the same function, of visibly in-
corporating in the Church, now belongs.' It is, therefore, not in respect to
the soul's inward and personal state, that either ordinance can properly be
called initiatory (for in that respect blessing might be had initially with-
out the one as well as the other), but in respect to the person's recognised
connection with the corporate society of those who are subjects of blessing.
This begins now with baptism, and it began of old with circumcision : till
the individual was circumcised, he was not reckoned as belonging to that
society ; and if passing the proper time for the ordinance without it, he was
to be held as ipso facto cut off. Under both covenants there is an inward
and an outward bond of connection with the peculiar blessing : the inward
faith in God's word of promise (of old, faith in God ; now more specifically,
faith in Christ) ; the outward, circumcision formerly, now baptism. Yet
the two in neither case should be viewed as altogether apart, but the one
should rather be held as the formal expression and seal of the other.

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 375

would command his children and his household after him to
keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment.' And
most of all it appears in the pleading of Abraham for the pre-
servation of the cities of the plain, — a pleading based upon the
principles of righteousness, that the Judge of all the earth
would do right, and would not destroy the righteous with the
wicked, — and a pleading that proved in vain only from there
not being- found the ten righteous persons in the place contem-
plated in the patriarch's last supposition. So that the awful
scene of desolation which the region of those cities afterwards
presented on the very borders of the land of Canaan, stood
perpetually before the Jewish people, not only as a monument
of the divine indignation against sin, but also as a witness that
the father of their nation would have sought their preservation
also from a like judgment only on the principles of righteous-
i. ss, and would have even ceased to plead in their behalf, if
righteousness should sink as low among them as he ultimately
supposed it might have come in Sodom.

But the topstone of Abraham's history as the spiritual head
of a seed of blessin<r, is onlv reached in the divine command to
offer up Isaac, and the obedience which the patriarch rendered
to it. ' Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou
lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah ; and offer him
there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains, which I
will tell thee of.' That Abraham understood this command

htly, when he supposed it to mean a literal offering of his
son upon the altar, and not, as Ilengstenberg and Lange have
contended, a simple dedication to a religious life, needs no
particular proof. Had anything but a literal surrender been
meant, the mention of a burnt-offering as the character in
which Isaac was to be offered to God, and of a mountain in
Moriah as the particular spot where the offering was to be pre-
sented, would have been entirely out of place. But why should
such a demand have been made of Abraham? And what pre-
cisely were the lessons it was intended to convey to his posterity,
or its typical bearing on future times?

In the form given to the required act, special emphasis is
lail on the endeared nature of the object demanded : thine only
son, and the son whom thou luvest. It was, therefore, a trial in

376 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the strongest sense, a trial of Abraham's faith, whether it was
capable of such implicit confidence in God, such profound re-
gard to His will, and such self-denial in His service, as at the
divine bidding to give up the best and dearest — what in the
circumstances must even have been dearer to him than his own
life. Not that God really intended the surrender of Isaac to
death, but only the proof of such a surrender in the heart of
His servant ; and such a proof could only have been found in
an unconditional command to sacrifice, and an unresisting
compliance with the command up to the final step in the
process. This, however, was not all. In the command to per-
form such a sacrifice, there was a tempting as well as a trying
of Abraham ; since the thing required at his hands seemed to
be an enacting of the most revolting rite of heathenism ; and
at the same time to war with the oracle already given concern-
ing Isaac, ' In Isaac shall thy seed be called.' According to
this word, God's purpose to bless was destined to have its ac-
complishment especially and peculiarly through Isaac ; so that
to slay such a son appeared like slaying the very word of God,
and extinguishing the hope of the world. And yet, in heart
and purpose at least, it must be done. It was no freak of arbi-
trary power to command the sacrifice ; nor was it done merely
with the view of raising the patriarch to a kind of romantic
moral elevation. It had for its object the outward and palpable
exhibition of the great truth, that God's method of working in
the covenant of grace must have its counterpart in man's. The
one must be the reflex of the other. God, in blessing Abraham,
triumphs over nature ; and Abraham triumphs after the same
manner in proportion as he is blessed. He receives a special
gift from the grace of God, and he freely surrenders it again
to Him who gave it. He is pre-eminently honoured by God's
word of promise, and he is ready in turn to hazard all for its
honour. And Isaac, the child of promise — the type in his out-
ward history of all who should be proper subjects or channels
of blessing — also must concur in the act : on the altar he must
sanctify himself to God, as a sign to all who would possess the
higher life of grace, how it implies and carries along with it a
devout surrender of the natural life to the service and glory of
Him who has redeemed it.

^.7 7

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 377

We have no nccount of the workings of Abraham's mind,
when going forth to the performance of this extraordinary act
of devotedness to God ; and the record of the transaction is,

from the wry simplicity with which it narrates the facts of
the case, the most touching and impressive in Old Testament
history. But we are informed on inspired authority, that the
principle on which he acted, and which enabled him — as indeed

it alone could enable him — to fulfil such a service, was faith :
• By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and
lie that received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called :
accounting that God was able to raise him up even from
the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.'1
His noblest act of obedience was nothing more than the highest
exercise and triumph of his faith. It was this which removed
the mountains that stood before him, and hewed out a path
for him to walk in. Grasping with firm hand that word of
promise which assured him of a numerous seed by the line of
Isaac, and taught by past experience to trust the faithfulness
of Him who gave it even in the face of natural impossibilities,
his faith enabled him to see light where all had otherwise
i" en darkness — to hope while in the very act of destroying the
great object of his hope. I know — so ho must have argued
with himself — that the word of God, which commands this
sacrifice, is faithfulness and truth ; and though to stretch forth
my hand against this child of promise is apparently destructive
to my hopes, yet I may safely risk it, since He commands it
from whom the gift and the promise were alike received. It
is as easy for the Almighty arm to give me back my son from
the domain of death, as it was at first to bring him forth out of
the dead womb of Sarah: ami what lie can do, His declared
purpose makes me sure that He will, and even must do. — Thus
nature, even in its best and strongest feelings, was overcome,

and the Bublimest heights of holineas were reached, simple
because faith had struck its roots so deeply within, and had o
closely united the soul of the patriarch to the will and perfec-
tions of Jehovah.

This high surrender of the human to the divine, and holy

1 Heb. xi. 17-1'j.

378 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

self-consecration to the will and service of God, was beyond all
doubt, like the other things recorded in Abraham's life, of the
nature of a revelation. It was not intended to terminate in the
patriarch and his son, but in them, as the sacred roots of the
covenant people, to show in outward and corporeal representa-
tion what in spirit ought to be perpetually repeating itself in
their individual and collective history. It proclaimed to them
through all their generations, that the covenant required of its
members lives of unshrinking and devoted application to the
service of God — yielding to no weak misgivings or corrupt so-
licitations of the flesh — staggering at no difficulties presented by
the world ; and also that it rendered such a course possible by
the ground and scope it afforded for the exercise of faith in the
sustaining grace and might of Jehovah. And undoubtedly, as
the human here was the reflex of the divine, whence it drew its
source and reason, so inversely, and as regards the ulterior ob-
jects of the covenant, the divine might justly be regarded as
imaged in the human. An organic union between the two was
indispensable to the effectual accomplishment of the promised
good ; and the seed in which the blessing of Heaven was to
concentrate, and from which it was to flow throughout the
families of the earth, must on the one side be as really the Son
of God, as on the other he was to be the offspring of Abraham.
Since, therefore, the two lines were ultimately to meet in one,
and that one, by the joint operation of the divine and human,
was once for all to make good the provision of blessing promised
in the covenant, it was fitting, and it may reasonably be sup-
posed, was one end of the transaction, that they should be seen
from the first to coalesce in principle ; that the surrender Abra-
ham made of his son, for the world's good, in the line after the
flesh, and the surrender willingly made by that son himself at
the altar of God, was destined to foreshadow in the other and
higher line the wonderful gift of God in yielding up His Son,
and the free-will offering and consecration of the Son Himself
to bring in eternal life for the lost. Here, too, as the things
done were in their nature unspeakably higher than in the other,
so were they thoroughly and intensely real in their character.
The representative in the Old becomes the actual in the New ;
and the sacrifice performed there merely in the spirit, passes

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 379

here into that one full and complete atonement, which for ever
perfects them that are sanctified.1

In the preparatory ami typical line, however, Abraham's con-
duct on this occasion was the perfect exemplar which all should
have aspired to copy. lie stood now on the highest elevation of
the righteousness of faith; and to show the weight God attached
to that righteousness, and how inseparably it was to be bound np
with the provisions of the covenant, the Lord consummated the
transaction by a new ratification of the covenant. After the
angel of Jehovah had stayed the hand of Abraham from slaying
Isaac, and provided the ram for a burnt-offering, he again ap-
j eared and spake to Abraham, ' By myself have I sworn, saith
the Lord ; for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not
withheld thy son, thine only son ; that in blessing I will bless
thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars
of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore ; and
thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies: and in thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast
obeyed my voice.'2 The things promised, it will be observed,
are precisely the things which God had already of His own
goodness engaged in covenant to bestow upon Abraham : these,
indeed, to their largest extent, but still no more, no other than

1 Presented as it is above, the typical relationship is both quite natural
and easy of apprehension, if only one keeps distinctly in view the necos-

. connection between the divine and the human for accomplishing the
ends of the covenant, — a connection influential ami co-operative as regards
the immediate ends, organic and personal as regards the ultimate. That
the action was. as Warburton represents, a scenical representation of the
di atli and resum ction of Christ, appointed expressly to satisfy the mind of
Abraham, who longed to see Chrisfs day, is to present it in a fanciful ami
arbitrary light ; and what is actually recorded requires to be supplemented
by much that is not. Nor do wo need to lay any stress on the precise
locality where the offering was appointed to be made. It must always
remain somewhat doubtful whether the 'land of Moriah ' was the Bame
with 'Mount Moriah,' OD which the temple was afterwards l.uilt, as the
one, mdeed, Ls evidently a more general designation than the other; and, at
all events, it was not on that mount thai the one great sacrifice "f Christ
was offered. And the minor circumstances, excepting in so far as they
indicate the implicit obedience of the father and the filial submission and
devotedness of the son, should be considered as of no moment.

8 Gen. xxii. 16-18.

380 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

these, — a seed numerous as the sand upon the sea-shore or the
stars of heaven, shielded from the malice of enemies, itself
blessed, and destined to be the channel of blessing to all nations.
But it is also to be observed, that while the same promises
of good are renewed, they are now connected with Abraham's
surrender to the will of God, and are given as the reward of
his obedience. To render this more clear and express, it is
announced, both at the beginning and the end of the address :
' Because thou hast done this .... because thou hast obeyed
my voice.' And even afterwards, when the covenant was estab-
lished with Isaac, an explicit reference is made to the same
thing. The Lord said, He would perform the oath He had
sworn to Abraham, ' because he obeyed my voice, and kept
my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.' x
What could have more impressively exhibited the truth, that
though the covenant, with all its blessings, was of grace on
the part of God, and to be appropriated by faith on the part of
men, yet the good promised could not be actually conferred by
Him, unless the faith should approve itself by deeds of righteous-
ness ! Their faith would otherwise be accounted dead, the mere
semblance of what it should be. And as if to bind the two
more solemnly and conspicuously together, the Lord takes this
occasion to superadd His oath to the covenant, — not to render
the word of promise more sure in itself, but to make it more
palpably sure to the heirs of promise, and to deepen in them
the impression, that nothing should fail of all that had been
spoken, if only their faith and obedience should accord with
that now exhibited !

II. We must leave to the reflection of our readers the
application of this to Christian times and relations, which is
indeed so obvious as to need no particular explanation ; and we
proceed to take a rapid glance at the leading features of the
other branch of the subject — that which concerns Jacob and
the twelve patriarchs. This forms the continuation of what
took place in the lives of Abraham and Isaac, and a continua-
tion not only embodying the same great principles, but also
carrying them forward with more special adaptation to the

1 Gen. xxvi. 5.

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 081

prospective condition of the Israelites as a people. Towards
the close of the patriarchal period, the covenant, even in its
more specific line of operations, began to widen and expand, to
rise more from the particular to the general} to embrace a family
circle, and that circle the commencement of a future nation.
And the dealings of God were all directed to the one great end
of Bhowing, that while this people should stand alike outwardly
related to the covenant, yet their real connection with its pro-
mises, and their actual possession of its blessings, should infal-
libly turn upon their being followers in faith and holiness of
the first fathers of their race.

Unfortunately, the later part of Isaac's life did not alto-
g ther fulfil the promise of the earlier. Knowing little of the
trials of faith, he did not reach high in his attainments. And
in the more advanced stage of his history he fell into a state
of general feebleness and decay, in which the moral but too
closely corresponded with the bodily decline. Notwithstanding
the very singular and marked exemplification that had been
given in his own case of the pre-eminent, respect had in the
covenant to something higher than nature, he failed so much in
discernment, that he was disposed only to make account of the
natural element in judging of the respective states ami fortunes
of his sons. To the neglect of a divine oracle going before,
and the neglect also of the plainest indications afforded by the
subsequent behaviour of the sons themselves, he resolved to
give the more distinctive blessing of the covenant to Esau, in
preference to Jacob, and so to make him the more peculiar
type and representative of the covenant. In this, however, he
was thwarted by the overruling providence of God — not indeed
without sin on the part of those who were the immediate agents
in accomplishing it, but yel bo as to bring out more clearly
and impressively the fact, that mere natural descent and priority
of birth was not here the principal, but only the secondary
thing, and that higher and more important than any natural
advantage was the grace of God manifesting itself in the faith

and holiness of men. Jacob, therefore, though the voungest
by birth, yet from the first the child of faith, of spiritual

desire, of heartfelt longings after the things of God, ultimately
the man of deep discernment, ripened experience, prophetic

3S2 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

insight, wrestling and victorious energy in the divine life — he
must stand first in the purpose of Heaven, and exhibit in his
personal career a living representation of the covenant, as to
what it properly is and really requires. Nay, opportunity was
taken from his case, as the immediate founder of the Israelitish
nation, to begin the covenant history anew ; and starting, as it
were, from nothing in his natural position and circumstances, it
was shown how God, by His supernatural grace and sufficiency,
could vanquish the difficulties in the way, and more than com-
pensate for the loss of nature's advantages. In reference partly
to this instructive portion of Jacob's history, and to renew upon
their minds the lesson it was designed to teach, the children of
Israel were appointed to go to the priest in after times with
their basket of first-fruits in their hand, and the confession in
their mouth, A Syrian ready to perish was my father.1 It was
clear, even as noon-day, that all Jacob had to distinguish him
outwardly from others, the sole foundation and spring of his
greatness, was the promise of God in the covenant, received by
him in humble faith, and taken as the ground of prayerful and
holy striving. As the head of the covenant people, he was not
less really, though by a different mode of operation, the child
of divine grace and power, than his father Isaac. And as his
whole life, in its better aspects, was a lesson to his posterity
respecting the superiority of the spiritual to the merely natural
element in things pertaining to the covenant of God ; so, when
his history drew toward its close, there were lessons of a more
special kind, and in the same direction, pressed with singular
force and emphasis upon his family.

It was a time when such were peculiarly needed. The
covenant was now to assume more of a communal aspect. It
was to have a national membership and representation, as the
more immediate designs which God sought to accomplish by
means of it could not be otherwise effected. Jacob was the
last separate impersonation of its spirit and character. His
family, in their collective capacity, were henceforth to take this
position. But they had first to learn that they could take it
only if their natural relation to the covenant was made the
means of forming them to its spiritual characteristics, and fitting

1 Deut. xxvi. 5.

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 383

tlicm for the fulfilment of its righteous ends. They must even
learn that their individual relation to the covenant in the

pects should determine their relative place in the administra-
tion of its affairs and int. rests. And for this end, Reuben, the
first-born, is made to lose his natural pre-eminence, b< cause, like
Esau, he presumed upon his natural position, and in the law!
impetuosity of nature broke through the restraints of filial piety.
Judah, ori the other hand, obtains one of the prerogatives
Reuben had lost — Judah, who became so distinguished fur that
filial piety as to hazard his own life for the sake of his father.
Simeon and Levi, in like manner, are all but excluded from
the blessings of the covenant on account of their unrighteous
and cruel behaviour: a curse is solemnly pronounced upon
their sin, and a mark of inferiority stamped upon their condi-
tion ; while, again, at a later period, and for the purpose still of
showing how the spiritual was to rule the natural, rather than
the natural the spiritual, the curse in the case of Levi was
turned into a blessing. The tribe was indeed, accordin<j; to the
word of Jacob, scattered in Israel, and was thereby rendered
politically weak; but the more immediate reason of the scatter-
ing was the zeal and devotedness which the members of that
tribe had exhibited in the wilderness, on account of which they
were dispersed as lights among Israel, bearing on them the
more peculiar and sacred distinctions of the covenant. Most
strikingly, however, does the truth break forth in connection
with Joseph, who in the earlier history of the family was the
onhi proper representative of the covenant. He was the one
child of God in the family, though, with a single exception, the
t and youngesl of its members. God therefore, after allow-
ing the contrast 1 ' ii bim and the rest to be sharply exhibited,
ordered His providence so as to make him pre-eminently the
heir of blessing. The faith and piety of the youth draw upon
him tli>' protection and loving-kindness of Heaven wherever he
goes and throw a charm around everything he does. At length
he rises to the highesl p i ition of honour and inllnenc( — I

most remarkably himself, and on the largest scale made a
blessing to others — the noblest and most conspicuous personal
embodiment of the nature of the covenant, as firsl rooting itself

in the principles of a spiritual life, and then diffusing itself in

384 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

healthful and blessed energy on all around. At the same time,
and as a foil to set off more brightly the better side of the truth
represented in him, while he was thus seen riding upon the high
places of the earth, his unsanctified brethren appear famishing
for want ; the promised blessing of the covenant has almost
dried up in their experience, because they possessed so little of
the true character of children of the covenant. And when the
needful relief comes, they have to be indebted for it to the hand
of him in whom that character is most luminously displayed.
Nay, in the very mode of getting it, they are conducted through
a train of humiliating and soul-stirring providences, tending to
force on them the conviction that they were in the hands of an
anory God, and to bring them to repentance of sin and amend-
ment of life. So that, by the time they are raised to a position
of honour and comfort, and settled as covenant patriarchs in
Egypt, they present the appearance of men chastened, subdued,
brought to the knowledge of God, fitted each to take his place
among the heads of the future covenant people; while the
double portion, which Keuben lost by his iniquity, descends on
him who was, under God, the instrument of accomplishing so
much good for them and for others.

And here, again, we cannot but notice that when the chosen
family were in the process of assuming the rudimentary form
of that people through whom salvation and blessing were to
come to other kindreds of the earth, the beginning was rendered
prophetic of the end ; the operations both of the evil and the
good in the infancy of the nation, were made to image the
prospective manifestation that was to be given of them when
the things of the divine kingdom should rise to their destined
maturity. Especially in the history of Joseph, the representa-
tive of the covenant in its earlier stage, was there given a
wonderful similitude of Him in whom its powers and blessings
were to be concentrated in their entire fulness, and who was
therefore in all things to obtain the pre-eminence among His
brethren. Like Joseph, the Son of Mary, though born among
brethren after the flesh, was treated as an alien ; envied and
persecuted even from His infancy, and obliged to find a tem-
porary refuge in the very land that shielded Joseph from the
fury of his kindred. His supernatural and unblemished right-

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 385

eousness continually provoked the malice of the world, and
at the same time received the most unequivocal tokens of the
divine favour and blessing. It was that righteousness, exhibited
amid the greatest trials and indignities, in the deepest debase-
ment, and in worse than prison-house affliction, which procured
His elevation to the right hand of power and glory, from which
II • was thenceforth to dispense the means of salvation to the
world. In the dispensation, too, of these blessings, it was the
hardened and cruel enmity of His immediate kindred which
opened the door of grace and blessing to the heathen ; and the
sold, hated, and crucified One becomes a Prince and Saviour
to the nations of the earth, while His famishing brethren reap
in bitterness of soul the fruit of their inexcusable hatred and
malice. Nor is there a door of escape to be found for them
until they come to acknowledge, in contrition of heart, that
they are verily guilty concerning their brother. Then, how-
ever, looking unto Him whom they have pierced, and owning
Him as, by God's appointment, the one channel of life and
blessing, their hatred shall be repaid with love, and they shall
be admitted to share in the inexhaustible fulness that is treasured
up in Christ.

What a succession, then, of lessons for the children of the
covenant in regard to what constituted their greatest danger
— lessons stretching through four (fenerations — ever varying
in their precise form, yet always bearing most directly and
impressively upon the same point — writing out on the very
foundations of their history, ami emblazoning on the banner
of their covenant, the important truth, that the spiritual ele-
ment was ever to be held the thing of first and most essential
moment, and that the natural was only to be regarded as the
channel through which the other was chiefly to come, and the
safeguard by which it was to be fenced and kept ! From the
first the call of God made itself known as no merely outward
distinction; and the covenant that grew out of it, instead of
being but a formal bond of interconnection between its mem-
bers and God, was framed especially to meet the spiritual
evil in the world, and required as an indispensable condition,
a Banctified heart in all who were to experience its blessings,
and to work out its beneficent results. How, indeed, could it

VOL. I. 2 U

386 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

be otherwise? How could the spiritual Jehovah, who has,
from the first creation of man upon the earth, been ever mani-
festing Himself as the Holy One, and directing His admini-
stration so as to promote the ends of righteousness, enter into
a covenant of life and blessing on any other principle'? It is
impossible — as impossible as it is for the unchangeable God
to act contrary to His nature — that the covenant of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob — the covenant of grace and blessing, which
embraces in its bosom Christ Himself and the benefits of His
eternal redemption — could ever have contemplated as its real
members any but spiritual and righteous persons. And the
whole tenor and current of the divine dealings in establishing
the covenant seem to have been alike designed and calculated
to shut up every thoughtful mind to the conclusion, that none
but such could either fulfil its higher purposes, or have an
interest in its more essential provisions.

What thus appears to be taught in the historical revelations
of God connected with the establishment of the covenant, is
also perpetually re-echoed in the later communications by His
prophets. Their great aim, in the monitory part of their
writings, is to bring home to men's minds the conviction that
the covenant had pre-eminently in view moral ends, and that
in so far as the people degenerated from these, they failed in
respect to the main design of their calling. Let us point, in
proof of this, merely to the last of the prophets, that we may
see how the closing witness of the old covenant coincides
with the testimony delivered at the beginning. In the second
chapter of his writings, the prophet Malachi, addressing him-
self to the corruptions of the time, as appearing first in the
priesthood, and then among the people generally, charges both
parties expressly with a breach of covenant, and a subversion
of the ends for which it was established. In regard to the
priests, he .points to their ancestral holiness in the personified
tribe of Levi, and says, ' My covenant was with him of life
and peace ; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he
feared me, and was afraid before my name. The law of truth
was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips : he
walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away
from iniquity. . . . But ye are departed out of the way ; ye

THE SUBJECTS AND CHANNELS OF BLESSING. 387

have caused many to stumble at the law ; ye have corrupted
the covenant of Levi, saitli the Lord of hosts. Therefore
have I also made you contemptible and base before all the
people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been
partial in the law.' In a word, the covenant, in this particular
branch of it, had been made expressly on moral grounds and
for moral ends; and in practically losing sight of these, the
priests of that time had made void the covenant, even though
externally complying with its appointments, and were conse-
quently visited with chastisement instead of blessing. Then,
in regard to the people, a reproof is first of all administered on
account of the unfaithfulness, which had become comparatively
common, in putting away their Israelitish wives, and taking
outlandish women in their stead — 'the daughters of a strange
god.' This the prophet calls ' profaning the covenant of their
fathers.' And then pointing in this case, as in the former, to
the original design and purport of their covenant calling, he
asks, in a question which has been entirely misunderstood,
from not being viewed in relation to the precise object of
the prophet, ' And did not He make one ? Yet had He the
residue of the Spirit. And wherefore one? That He might
k a godly seel. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let
none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.' The
one, which God made, is not Adam, nor Abraham, to either
of whom commentators usually refer it, though the case of
neither of them properly suits the point more immediately in
question. The oneness referred to is that distinctive species
of it on which the whole section proceeds as its basis — Israel's
oneness as a family. Cod had chosen them — them alone of
all the nations of the earth — to be His peculiar treasure. If
He had pleased, He might have chosen more; the residue of
the Spirit was still with Him, by no means exhausted by that
single effort. He could have either left them like others, or
chosen others besides them. But He did not; He made one,
one alone, to be peculiarly His own, setting it apart from the
rest. And wherefore that one ? Simply that He might have
B godly seed ; that they might be an holy people, and transmit
the true fear of God from generation to generation. How
base, then, how utterly subversive of God's purposes concern-

388 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

ing them, to act as if no such separation had taken place, — to
put away their proper wives, and by heathenish alliances bring
into the bosom of their families the very defilement and cor-
ruption against which God had especially called them to con-
tend ! Such was this prophet's understanding of the covenant
made with the fathers of the Israelitish people ; and no other
view of it, we venture to say, would ever have prevailed, if its
nature had been sought primarily in those fundamental records
which describe the procedure of God in bringing it originally
into existence.

SECTION SIXTH.

Till; INHERITANCE DESTINED FOR THE HEIRS OF BLESSING.

Tin; covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was
connected not only with a seed of blessing, but also with an
inheritance of blessing destined for their possession. And in
order to get a correct view both of the immediate and of the
ultimate bearing of this part of the covenant promise, it is not
less necessary than in the other case, to consider the specific
object proposed in its relation to the entire scheme of God,
and especially to bear in mind that it forms part of a series
of arrangements in which the particular or the individual was
selected with a view to the general, the universal. In respect
to the good to be inherited, as well as in respect to the persons
who might be called to inherit it, the end proposed on the
part of God was from the first of the most comprehensive
nature ; and if for a time there was an immediate narrowing
of the field of promise, it could be only for the sake of an
ultimate expansion. To see more distinctly the truth of this,
it may l>e proper to take a brief retrospect of the past.

From the outset, the earth, in its entire extent and compass,
given for the domain and the heritage of man. He was
placed in paradise as his proper home. There he had the
throne of his kingdom, but not that he might be pent up
within that narrow region ; rather that he might from that, as
the seat of his empire and the centre of his operations, go forth
upon the world around, and bring it under his sway. His
calling was to multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue
it; so that it might become to its utmost bounds an extended
and peopled paradise. But when the fall entered, though the
calling was not withdrawn, nor the possession finally lost, yet
man's relative position was changed. He had now, not to
work from paradise as a rightful king and lord, but from the
blighted outtield of nature's barrenness to work as a servant,

390 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

in the hope of ultimately reaching a new and better paradise
than he had lost. The first promise of grace, and the original
symbols of worship, viewed in connection with the facts of
history, out of which they grew, presented him with the pro-
spect of an ultimate recovery from the evils of sin and death,
and put him in the position of an expectant through faith in
God, and toil and suffering in the flesh, of good things yet to
come. The precise hope he cherished respecting these good
things, or the inheritance he actually looked for, would at first
naturally take shape in his imagination from what he had
lost. He would fancy, that though he must bear the deserved
doom for his transgression, and return again to dust, yet the
time would come when, according to the revealed mercy and
loving-kindness of God, the triumph of the adversary would
be reversed, the dust of death would be again quickened into
life, and the paradise of delight be occupied anew, with better
hopes of continuance, and with enlarged dimensions suited
to its destined possessors. He could scarcely have expected
more with the scanty materials which faith and hope yet
had to build upon ; and with the grace revealed to him, he
could scarcely, if really standing in faith and hope, have
expected less.

We deem it incredible, that with the grant of the earth so
distinctly made to man for his possession, and death so expressly
appointed as the penalty of his yielding to the tempter, he
should, as a subject of restoring grace, have looked for any other
domain as the result of the divine work in his behalf, than the
earth itself, or for any other mode of entering on the recovered
possession of it, than through a resurrection from the dead. For
how should he have dreamt of a victory over evil in any other
region than that where the evil had prevailed % Or how could
the hope of restitution have formed itself in his bosom, excepting
as a prospective reinstatement in the benefits he had forfeited ?
A paradise such as he had originally occupied, but prepared
now for the occupation of redeemed multitudes — made to em-
brace, it may be, the entire territory of the globe — wrested for
ever from the serpent's brood, and rendered through all its
borders beautiful and good : that, and nothing else, we conceive,
must have been what the first race of patriarchal believers hoped

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 301

and waited for, as the objective portion of good reserved for
them.

But in process of time the deluge came, changing to a con-
siderable extent the outward appearance of the earth, and in
certain respects also the government under which it was placed,
and so preparing the way for a corresponding change in the
hopes that were to be cherished of a coming inheritance. The
old world then perished, leaving no remnant of its original
paradise, any more than of the giant enormities which had
caused it to groan, as in pain to be delivered. But the new
world, cleansed and purified by the judgment of God, was now,
without limit or restriction, given to Noah, as the saved head of
mankind, that he might keep it for God, replenish and subdue
it, — might work it, if such a thing were possible, into the condi-
tion of a second paradise. It soon became too manifest, how-
ever, that this was not possible; and that the righteousness of
faith, of which Noah was heir, was still not that which could
prevail to banish sin and death, corruption and misery, from
the world. Another and better foundation yet remained to be
laid for such a blessed prospect to be realized. But the promise
of this very earth was nevertheless given for man's inheritance,
and with a promise securing it against any fresh destruction.
The needed righteousness was somehow to be wrought upon it,
and the region itself reclaimed so as to become a habitation of
blessing. This was now the heritage of good set before man-
kind; to have this realized was the object which they were
called of God to hope and strive for. And it was with this
object before them— an object, however, to which the events
immediately subsequent to the deluge did not seem to be
brinenns them nearer, but rather to be carrying them more
remot< — that the call to Abraham entered. This call, as we
have already seen, was of the largest and most comprehensive
nature as to the personal and subjective good it contemplated.
]t aimed at the bestowal of blessing, — blessing, of course, in the
divine sense, including the fullest triumph over sin and death
(for where these are, there can be but the beginnings or smaller
drops of blessing); and the bestowal of them on Abraham and
liis lineal offspring, first and most copiously, but only as the
more effectual way of extending them to all the families of

392 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

mankind. The grand object of the covenant made with him
was to render the world truly blessed in its inhabitants, himself
forming the immediate starting-point of the design, which was
thereafter to grow and germinate, till the whole circle of
humanity were embraced in its beneficent provisions. But in
connection with this higher and grander object, there was
singled out a portion of the earth for the occupation of his im-
mediate descendants in a particular line — the more special line
of blessing ; and the conclusion is obvious, even before we go
into an examination of particulars, that unless this select portion
of the world were placed in utter disagreement with the higher
ends of the covenant, it must have been but a stepping-stone to
their accomplishment — a kind of first-fruits of the proper good
— the occupation of a part of the promised inheritance by a
portion of the heirs of blessing to image and prepare for the
inheritance of the whole by the entire company of the blessed.
The particular must here also have been for the sake of the
general, the universal, the ultimate.

Proceeding, however, to a closer view of the subject, we
notice, first, the region actually selected for a possession of an
inheritance to the covenant people. The land of Canaan occu-
pied a place in the ancient world that entirely corresponded
with the calling of such a people. It was of all lands the best
adapted for a people who were at once to dwell in compara-
tive isolation, and yet were to be in a position for acting with
effect upon the other nations of the world. Hence it was said
by Ezekiel1 to have been 'set in the midst of the countries
and the nations' — the umbilicus terrarum. In its immediate
vicinity lay both the most densely-peopled countries and the
greater and more influential states of antiquity, — on the south,
Egypt, and on the north and east, Assyria and Babylon, the
Medes and the Persians. Still closer were the maritime states
of Tyre and Sidon, whose vessels frequented every harbour
then known to navigation, and whose colonies were planted in
each of the three continents of the old world. And the great
routes of inland commerce between the civilised nations of Asia
and Africa lay either through a portion of the territory itself,
or within a short distance of its borders. Yet, bounded as it

1 Cb. v. 5.

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 393

was on tlic west by the Mediterranean, on the south by the
desert, on the east by the valley of the Jordan with its two
seas of Tiberias and Sodom, and on the north by the tower-
ing heights of Lebanon, the people who inhabited it might
justly be said to dwell alone, while they had on every side
points of contact with the most influential and distant nations.
Then the land itself, in its rich soil and plentiful resources,
its varieties of hill and dale, of river and mountain, it-; connec-
tion with the sea on one side and with the desert on another,
rendered it a kind of epitome of the natural world, and fitted
it peculiarly for being the home of those who were to be a
pattern people to the nations of the earth. Altogether, it were
impossible to conceive a region more wisely selected, and in
itself more thoroughly adapted, for the purposes on account of
which the family of Abraham were to be set apart. If they
were faithful to their covenant encasements, thev might there
have exhibited, as on an elevated platform, before the world
the bright exemplar of a people possessing the characteristics
and enjoying the advantages of a seed of blessing. And the
finest opportunities were at the same time placed within their
reach of proving in the highest sense benefactors to mankind,
and extending far and wide the interest of truth and right-
eousness. Possessing the elements of the world's blessing, they
were placed where these elements might tell most readily and
powerfully on the world's inhabitants ; and the present posses-
sion of such a region was at once an earnest of the whole inherit-
ance, and, as the world then stood, an effectual step towards its
realization. Abraham, as the heir of Canaan, was thus also
1 the heir of the world,' considered as a heritage of blessing.1

I Jut, next, let us mark the precise words of the premise to
Abraham concerning this inheritance. As it first occurs, it
runs, ' (Jet thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and
from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee ;
and 1 will make of thee a great nation,' etc." Then, when lie
reached Canaan, the promise was renewed to him in th<
terms : 'Unto thy seed will I give this land.'" More fully and
definitely, after Lot separated from Abraham, was it again
given : ' Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where
1 Rom. iv. 13. 2 Qen< xii> L 3 ycr. 7.

394 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and west-
ward : for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it,
and to thy seed for ever.'1 Again, in ch. xv. 7, ' I am the
Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give
thee this land to inherit it ;' and toward the close of the same
chapter it is said, ' In the same day the Lord made a covenant
with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land,
from the river of Egypt unto the great river.' In ch. 17th
the promise was formally ratified as a covenant, and sealed by
the ordinance of circumcision ; and there the words used re-
specting the inheritance are, ' I will give unto thee, and to thy
seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the
land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession ; and I will be
their God.' We read only of one occasion in the life of Isaac,
when he received the promise of the inheritance ; and the words
then used were, ' Unto thee, and unto thy seed, will I give all
these countries ; and I will perform the oath which I sware
unto Abraham thy father.'2 Such also were the words ad-
dressed to Jacob at Bethel, ' I am the Lord God of Abraham
thy father, and the God of Isaac : the land whereon thou liest,
to thee will I give it, and to thy seed ;' and in precisely the
same terms was the promise again made to Jacob many years
afterwards, as recorded in ch. xxxv. 12.

It cannot but appear striking, that to each one of these
patriarchs successively, the promise of the land of Canaan
should have been given, first to themselves, and then to their
posterity ; while, during their own lifetimes, they never were
permitted to get beyond the condition of strangers and pilgrims,
having no right to any possession within its borders, and obliged
to purchase at the marketable value a small field for a burying-
ground. How shall we account for the promise, then, so uni-
formly running, ' to thee,' and to ' thy seed V Some, as Ains-
worth and Bush, tell us that and here is the same as even — to
thee, even to thy seed ; as if a man were all one with his off-
spring, or the name of the latter were but another name for
himself ! Gill gives a somewhat more plausible turn to it,
thus : ' God gave Abram the title to it now, and to them the
possession of it for future times ; gave him it to sojourn in now
1 Gen. xiii. 14, 15. 2 Gen. xxvi. 3.

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 395

where lie pleased, and for his posterity to dwell in hereafter.'
But the gift was the land for an inheritance, not for a place of
sojourn; and a title, which left him personally without a foot's-
breadth of possession, could not be regarded in that light as
any real boon to him. Warburton, as usual, confronts the
difficulty more boldly : ' In the literal sense, it is a promise of
the land of Canaan to Abraham and to his posterity; and in
this sense it was literally fulfilled, though Abraham was never
personally in possession of it : since Abraham and his posterity,
put collectively, signify the RACE OF Abraham ; and that race
possessed the land of Canaan. And surely God may be allowed
to explain His own promise : now, though He tells Abraham,
lie would give him the land, yet at the same time He assures
him that it would be many hundred years before his posterity
should be put in possession of it.1 And as concerning himself,
that he should go to his fathers in peace, and be buried in a
good old age. Thus we see that both what God explained to
be His meaning, and what Abraham understood Him to mean,
wasj that his posterity, after a certain time, should be led into
possession of the land.' 2

But if this were really the whole meaning, the thought
naturally occurs, it is strange so plain a meaning should have
been so ambiguously expressed. "Why not simply say, ' thy
posterity,' if posterity alone were intended, and so render un-
necessary the somewhat awkward expedient of sinking the
patriarch's individuality in the history of his race? Why, also,
should the promise have been renewed at a later period, with
a pointed distinction between Abraham and his posterity, yet
with an assurance that the promise was to him as well as to
them : 'Ami I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee,
the land wherein thou art a stranger?' And -why should
Stephen have made BUch special reference to the apparent in-
congruity between the personal condition of Abraham and the
promise given to him, as if there were some further meaning
in what was said than lay on the surface : ' lie gave him none
inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on : yet
lie promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his seed
after him l.yz

1 Gen. xv. 13, etc. 2 Legation of Mm s, 15. vi. sec. 3. 3 Acts vii. 0.

396 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

We do not see how these questions can receive any satis-
factory explanation, so long as no account is made of the per-
sonal standing of the patriarchs in regard to the promise. And
there are others equally left without explanation. For no
sufficient reason can be assigned on that hypothesis, for the
extreme anxiety of Jacob and Joseph to have their bones carried
to the sepulchre of their fathers, in the land of Canaan — be-
tokening, as it evidently seemed to do, a conviction that to
them also belonged a personal interest in the land. Neither
does it appear how the fact of Abraham and his immediate
offspring, ' confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on
the earth,' — which they did no otherwise, that we are aware
of, than by living as strangers and pilgrims in Canaan, — should
have proved that they were looking for and desiring a better
country, that is, an heavenly one. And then, strange to think,
if nothing more were meant by the promise than the view now
under consideration would imply, when the posterity who were
to occupy the land did obtain possession of it, we find the men
of faith taking up exactly the same confession as to their being
strangers and pilgrims in it, which was witnessed by their fore-
fathers, who never had it in possession. Even after they be-
came possessors, it seems they were still, like their wandering
ancestors, expectants and heirs of something better ; and faith
had to be exercised, lest they should lose the proper fulfilment
of the promise.1 Surely if the earthly Canaan had been the
whole inheritance they were warranted to look for, after they
were settled in it, the condition of pilgrims and strangers no
longer was theirs — they had reached their proper destiny — they
were dwelling in their appointed home — the promise had re-
ceived its intended fulfilment.

These manifold difficulties and apparent inconsistencies will
vanish — (and we see no other way in which they can be satis-
factorily removed) — by supposing, what is certainly in accord-
ance with the tenor of revelation, that the promise of Canaan
as an inheritance to the people of God was part of a connected
and growing scheme of preparatory arrangements, which were
to have their proper outgoing and final termination in the estab-
lishment of Christ's everlasting kingdom. Viewed thus, the
1 Ps. xxxix. 12, xcv., cxix. 19 ; 1 Chrou. xxix. 15.

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 397

grant of Canaan must be regarded as a kind of second Eden,
a sacred region once more possessed in this fallen world — God's
own land — out of which life and blessing were to come for all
lands — the present type of a world restored and blessed. And
if so, then we may naturally expect the following consequences
to have arisen : — First, that whatever transactions may have
taken place concerning the actual Canaan, these would be all
ordered so as to subserve the higher design, in connection with
which the appointment was made ; and second, that as a sort
of veil must have been allowed meanwhile to hang over this
ultimate design (for the issue of redemption could not be made
fully manifest till the redemption itself was brought in), a
certain degree of dubiety would attach to some of the things
spoken regarding it: these would appear strange or impossible,
if viewed only in reference to the temporary inheritance; and
would have the effect with men of faith, as no doubt they were
intended, to compel the mind to break through the outward
shell of the promise, and contemplate the rich kernel enclosed
within. Thus the promise being made so distinctly and re-
peatedly to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, while personallv they
were allowed no settled footing in the inheritance bestowed,
could scarcely fail to impress them, and their more pious de-

ndants, with the conviction that higher and more important
relations were included under those in which they stood to the
land of Canaan during their earthly sojourn, and such as re-
quired another order of things to fulfil them. They must have
I. en convinced that, for some great and substantial reason, not
by a mere fiction of the imagination, they had been identified
by God with their posterity as to their interest in the promised
inheritance. And BO they must have felt shut up to the belief,
that when God's purposes were completely fulfilled, His word
of promise would be literally verified, and that their respective
deaths should ultimately be found to raise no effectual barrier
in the way of their actual share in the inheritance; as the'
same God who would have raised Isaac from the dead, had he
hem put to death, to maintain the integrity of 1 1 is word, was
equally able, on the same account, to raise them up.

Certainly the exact and perfect manner in which the other
line of promise — that which respected a seed to Abraham — was

398 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

fulfilled, gave reason to expect a fulfilment in regard to this
also, in the most proper and complete sense. Abraluim did not
at first understand how closely God's words were to be inter-
preted ; and after waiting in vain for some years for the pro-
mised seed by Sarah, he began to think that God must have
meant an offspring that should be his only by adoption, and
seems to have thought of constituting the son of his steward
his heir. Then, when admonished of his error in entertaining
such a thought, and informed that the seed was to spring from
his own loins, he acceded, after another long period of fruitless
waiting, to the proposal of Sarah regarding Hagar, under the
impression, that though he was to be the father of the seed,
yet it should not be by his proper wife ; the expected good was
to be obtained by a worldly expedient, and to become his only
through a tortuous policy. Here again, however, he was ad-
monished of error, commanded to cease from such unworthy
devices, and walk in uprightness before God ; was reminded
that He who made the promise was the Almighty God, to
whom, therefore, no impossibility connected with the age of
Sarah could be of any moment, and assured that the long pro-
mised child was to be the son of him and his lawful spouse.1
Now, when Abraham was thus taught to interpret one part of
the promise in the most exact and literal sense, how natural
was it to infer that he must do the same also with the other
part ! If, when God said, ' Thou shalt be the father of a seed,'
it became clear that the word could receive nothing short of
the strictest fulfilment ; what else, what less, could be expected
when God said, ' Thou shalt inherit this land,' than that the
fulfilment was to be equally proper and complete? The provi-
dence of God, which furnished such an interpretation in the
one case, could not but beo;et the conviction that a similar
principle of interpretation was to be applied to the other ; and
that as the promise of the inheritance was given to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, as well as to their seed, so it should be made
good in their experience, not less than in that of their posterity.
No doubt, such a belief implied that there must be a resur-
rection from the dead before the promise could be realized ; and
to those who conceive that immortality was altogether a blank

1 Gen. xvii. 1-17.

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 399

page to the eye of an ancient Israelite, the idea may seem to
carry its own refutation along with it. The Rabbis, however,
with all their blindness, seemed to have had juster, because
more scriptural, notions of the truth and purposes of God in
this respect. For, on Ex. vi. 4, the Talmud in Gemnra, in
reply to the question, ' Where does the law teach the resurrec-
tion of the dead?' thus distinctly answers, 'In that place
where it is said, I have established my covenant with thee, to
give thee the land of Canaan. For it is not said with you, but
with thee (lit. yourselves).' ' The same answer, substantially,
we are told, was returned by Rabbi Gamaliel, when the Sad-
ducees pressed him with a similar question. And in a passage
quoted by Warburton (B. vi. sec. 3) from Manasseh Ben-
Israel, we find the argument still more fully stated : ' God said
to Abraham, I will give to thee, and to thy seed after thee, the
land wherein thou art a stranger. But it appears that Abraham
and the other patriarchs did not possess that land ; therefore
it is of necessity that they should be raised up to enjoy the
good promises, else the promises of God should be in vain and
false. So that we have here a proof, not only of the immor-
tality of the soul, but also of the essential foundation of the law,
namely, the resurrection of the dead.' It is surely not too
much to suppose that what .Jewish Rabbis could so certainly
draw from tiie word of God, may have been perceived by wise
and holy patriarchs. And the fact, of which an inspired writer
ores us, that Abraham so readily believed in the possible
resurrection of Isaac to a present life, is itself conclusive proof
that he would not be slow to believe in his own resurrection to
a future life, when the word of promise seemed no otherwise
capable of receiving its proper fulfilment. Indeed, the doctrine
of a resurrection from the dead — not that of the immortality of
the soul — is the form which the prospect of an after state of
being must have chiefly assumed in the minds of the earlier
believers, because that which most obviously and naturally grew
out of the promises made to them, as well as most accordant
with their native cast of thought. And nothing but the undue

1 Sic habctiir traditio Rah. Bimai; quo loco astruit I.<\ rrsurrcctionem
rtuorum ? Ncinjie ubi dicitur, ' Aque etiam oonatabilivi foedos meum
com qisis, ut dem ipaia terrain Canaan.' Nod enim dicitox vobis Bed ipeit.

400 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

influence of the Gentile philosophy on men's minds could have
led them to imagine, as they generally have done, the reverse to
have been the case.

In the writings of the Greeks and Romans, especially those
of the former, we find the distinction constantly drawn between
matter and spirit, body and soul ; and the one generally repre-
sented as having only elements of evil inhering in it, and the
other elements of good. So far from looking for the resurrec-
tion of the body as necessary to the final wellbeing of men, full
and complete happiness was held to be impossible so long as the
soul was united to the body. Death was so far considered by
them a boon, that it emancipated the ethereal principle from its
prison-house ; and their visions of future bliss, when such visions
were entertained, presented to the eye of hope scenes of delight,
in which the disembodied spirit alone was to find its satisfaction
and repose. Hence it is quite natural to hear the better part of
them speaking with contempt of all that concerned the body,
looking upon death as a final as well as a happy release from
its vile affections, and promising themselves a perennial enjoy-
ment in the world of spirits. ' In what way shall we bury
you ? ' said Crito to Socrates, immediately before his death.
' As you please,' was the reply. ' I cannot, my friends, per-
suade Crito that I am the Socrates that is now conversing and
ordering everything that has been said ; but he thinks I am
that man whom he will shortly see a corpse, and asks how you
should bury me. But wdiat I have all along been talking so
much about — that when I shall have drunk the poison, I shall
no longer stay with you, but shall, forsooth, go away to certain
felicities of the blest — this I seem to myself to have been saying
in vain, whilst comforting at the same time you and myself.'
And in another part of the same dialogue (Phssclo), after speak-
ing of the impossibility of attaining to the true knowledge and
discernment of things, so long as the soul is kept in the lumpish
and impure body, he is represented as congratulating himself on
the prospect now immediately before him : ' If these things are
true, there is much reason to hope that he who has reached my
present position shall there soon abundantly obtain that for the
sake of which I have laboured so hard during this life ; so that
I encounter with a lively hope my appointed removal.' No

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 401

doubt such representations give a highly coloured and far too
favourable view of the expectations which the more speculative
part of the heathen world cherished of a future state of being ;
for to most of them the whole was overshadowed with doubt and
uncertainty — too often, indeed, the subject of absolute unbelief.
But in this respect the idea it presents is perfectly correct, that
so far as hope was exercised toward the future, it connected
itself altogether with the condition and destiny of the soul; and
so abhorrent was the thought of a resurrection of the body to
their notions of future good, that Tcrtullian did not hesitate to
affirm the heresy, which denied that Christian doctrine, to be
the common result of the whole Gentile philosophy.1

It was precisely the reverse with believers in ancient and
primitive times. Tlieir prospects of a blessed immortality were
mainly associated with the resurrection of the body; and the
dark period to them was the intermediate state between death
and the resurrection, which even at a comparatively late stage
in their history presented itself to their view as a state of gloom,
silence, and forgetfulness. They contemplated man, not in the
light in which an abstract speculative philosophy might regard
him, but in the more natural and proper one of a compound
being, to which matter as essentially belongs as spirit, and in
the wellbeing of which there must unite the happy condition
both of soul and body. Nay, the materials from which they
had to form their views and prospects of a future state of being
pointed most directly to the resurrection, and passed over in
silence the period intervening between that and death. Thus,
the primeval promise, that the seed of the woman should bruise
the head of the serpent, taught them to live in expectation of a
time when death should be swallowed up in victory; for death
being the fruit of the serpent's triumph, what else could' his
complete overthrow be than the reversal of death — the resurrec-
tion from the dead .' So also the prophecy embodied in the
emblems of the tree of life, still standing in the midst of the
garden of Eden, with its way of approach meanwhile guarded
by the flaming sword, and possessed by the cherubim of glory —
implying that when the spoiler should be himself spoiled, and

1 I t >ariiis restitutio Degetor, do una omnium I'liilosoituoruin schola
sumitur. J'. Praeac. adv. Haeret. § 7

VOL. 1. 2 C

402 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the way of life should again be laid open for the children of
promise, they should have access to the food of immortality,
which they could only do by rising out of death and entering on
the resurrection state. The same conclusion grew, as we have
just seen, most naturally, and we may say inevitably, out of
that portion of the promises made to the fathers of the Jewish
race, which assured them of a personal inheritance in the land
of Canaan ; for dying, as they did, without having obtained any
inheritance in it, how could the word of promise be verified to
them, but by their being raised from the dead to receive what it
warranted them to expect ? In perfect accordance with these
earlier intimations, or, as they may fitly be called, fundamental
promises, we find, as we descend the stream of time, and listen to
the more express utterances of prophecy regarding the hopes of
the Church, that the grand point on which they are all made to
centre is the resurrection from the dead ; and it is so, doubtless,
for the reason, that as death is from the first represented as the
wages of sin, the evil pre-eminently under which humanity groans,
so the abolition of death by mortality being swallowed up of life,
is understood to carry in its train the restitution of all things.

The Psalms, which are so full of the experiences and hopes
of David, and other holy men of old, while they express only
fear and discomfort in regard to the state after death, not un-
frequently point to the resurrection from the dead as the great
consummation of desire and expectation : ' My flesh also shall
rest in hope : for Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell ; neither
wilt Thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.'1 'Like
sheep they 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 will redeem my soul from the power of the grave ;
for He shall receive me :' 2 — thus expressing belief, not only in
a prolonged existence in Sheol, but in an ultimate return from
its chambers. The prophets, who are nearly silent regarding
the state of the disembodied soul, speak even more explicitly of
a resurrection from the dead, and evidently connect with it the
brightest hopes of the Church. Thus Isaiah : ' He will swallow
up death in victory ' (xxv. 8) ; and again, ' Thy dead men shall
1 Ps. xvi. 9, 10. 2 Ps. xlix. 14. 15.

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 403

live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and
sing, ye that dwell in the dust' (xxvi. 19). To the like effect,
Iluseaxiii. 14: 'I will ransom them from the power of the
grave: I will redeem thfin from death : O death, I will be thv
plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction.' The vision of
the dry bones, in the thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel, whether
understood of a literal resurrection from the state of the dead,
or of a figurative resurrection, a political resuscitation from a
downcast and degraded condition, strongly indicates, in either
case, the characteristic nature of their future prospects. Then,
finally, in Daniel we read, ch. xii., not only that he was himself,
after resting for a season anions the dead, • to stand in his lot
at the end of the days,' but also that at the great crisis of the
Church's history, when they should be for ever rescued from
the power of the enemy, 'many of them that sleep in the dust
of the earth should awake, some to everlasting life, and some to
shame and everlasting contempt.'

Besides these direct and palpable proofs of a resurrection in
the Jewish Scriptures, and of the peculiar place it holds there,
the rabbinical and modern Jews, it is well known, refer to
many others as inferentially teaching the same doctrine. That
the earlier Jews were not behind them, either in the importance
they attached to the doctrine, or in their persuasion of its fre-
quent recurrence in the Old Testament Scriptures, we may
assuredly gather from the tenacity with which all but the Sad-
duceefl evidently held it in our Lord's time, and the ready ap-
proval which He met with when inferring it from the declaration
made to Moses, ' I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of
Jacob.' It is nothing to the purpose, therefore, to allege, as
has often been done, against any clear or well-grounded belief
on the part of the ancient Jews regarding a future and im-
mortal state of hi in g, Mich passages as speak of the darkness,
silence, and nothingness of the condition immediately subse-
quent to death, and dining the sojourn of the body in the tomb;
for that was preci ely the period in respect to which their light
failed them. Of a heathenish immortality, which ascribed to
the soul a perpetual existence separate from the body, and con-
sidered its happiness, when thus separate, as the ultimate good
of man, they certainly knew and believed nothing. But we are

404 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

persuaded no tenet was more firmly and sacredly held among
them from the earliest periods of their history, than that of the
resurrection from the dead, as the commencement of a final and
everlasting portion of good to the people of God. And when
the Jewish doctors gave to the resurrection of the dead a place
amono1 the thirteen fundamental articles of their faith, and cut
off from all inheritance in a future state of felicity those who
deny it, we have no reason to regard the doctrine as attaining
to a higher place in their hands, than it did with their fathers
before the Christian era.

There was something more, however, in the Jewish faith
concerning the resurrection than its being simply held as an
article in their creed, and held to be a fact that should one day
be realized in the history of the Church. It stood in the closest
connection with the promise made to the fathers, as some of the
foregoing testimonies show, and especially with the work and
advent of Messiah. They not only believed that there would
be a resurrection of the dead, to a greater or less extent, when
Messiah came,1 but that His work, especially as regards the
promised inheritance, could only be carried into effect through
the resurrection. Levi2 holds it as a settled point, that ' the
resurrection of the dead will be very near the time of the re-
demption,' meaning by the redemption the full and final enjoy-
ment of all blessing in the land of promise, and that such is the
united sense of all the prophets who have spoken of the times
of Messiah. In this, indeed, he only expresses the opinion
commonly entertained by Jewish writers, who constantly assert
that there will be a resurrection of the whole Jewish race, to
meet and rejoice with Christ, when He comes to Jerusalem,
and who often thrust forward their views regarding it, when
there is no proper occasion to do so. Thus, in Sohar, Genes,
fol. 77, as quoted by Schoettgen, ii. p. 367, R. Nehorai is re-
ported to have said, on Abraham's speaking to his servant, Gen.
xxiv. 2, ' We are to understand the servant of God, his senior
domus. And who is He? Metatron (Messiah), who, as we
have said, will bring forth the souls from their sepulchres.'
But a higher authority still may be appealed to. For the

1 See Lightfoot, Hor. Heb., John i. 21, v. 25.

2 Dissertations on the Prophecies of Old Test., vol. i. p. 56.

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 405

Apostle to the Gentiles thus expresses — and with evident ap-
proval as to the general principle — the mind of his countrymen
in regard to the Messiah and the resurrection: 'I now stand
and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto
our fathers ; unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly
serving God day and night, hope to come : for which hope's
sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should
it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise
the dead?'1 The connection in which the resurrection of the
dead is here placed with the great promise of a Messiah, for
which the Jews are represented as so eagerly and intently
looking, evidently implies that the two were usually coupled
together in the Jewish faith, nay, that the one could reach its
proper fulfilment only through the performance of the other ;
and that in believing on a Messiah risen from the dead, the
apostle was acting in perfect accordance with the hopes of his
nation.

But now, to apply all this to the subject under consideration
— the earthly inheritance : If that inheritance was promised in
a way which, from the very first, implied a resurrection from
the dead, before it could be rightly enjoyed ; and if all along,
even when Canaan was possessed by the seed of Abraham, the
men of faith still looked forward to another inheritance, when
the curse should be utterly abolished, the blessing fully received,
and death finally swallowed up in victory, — then a twofold boon
must have been conveyed to Abraham and his seed, under the
promise of the land of Canaan ; one to be realized in the natural,
and the other in the resurrection state, — a mingled and tem-
porary good before, and a complete and permanent one after,
the restitution of all things by the Messiah. So that, in regard
to the ultimate designs of God, the land of Canaan would serve
much the same purpose as the garden of Eden, with its tree of
life and cherubim of glory — the same, and yet more; for it not
only presented to the eye of faith a type, but also gave in its
possession an earnest, of the inheritance of a paradisiacal world.
The difference, however, is not essential, and only indicates an
advance in God's revelations and purposes of grace, making
what was ultimately designed for the faithful more sure to

1 Acts xxvi. 0-8.

406 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

them by an instalment, through a singular train of providential
arrangements, in a present inheritance of good. They thus
enjoyed a real and substantial pledge of the better things to
come, which were to be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

But what were these better things themselves ? What was
thus indicated to Abraham and his believing posterity, as their
coming inheritance of good ? If it was clear that they must
have attained to the resurrection from the dead before they
could properly enjoy the possession, it could not be Canaan in
its natural state, as a region of the present earth, that was to be
inherited ; for that, considered as the abode of Abraham and
all his elect posterity, when raised from the tomb and collected
into an innumerable multitude, must have appeared of far too
limited dimensions, as well as of unsuitable character. Though
it might well seem a vast inheritance for any living generation
that should spring from the loins of Abraham, yet it was pal-
pably inadequate for the possession of his collected seed, when
it should have become like the stars of heaven for multitude.
And not only so ; but as the risen body is to be, not a natural,
but a glorified one, the inheritance it is to occupy must be a
glorified one too. The fairest portions of the earth, in its
present fallen and corruptible state, could be a fit possession
for men only so long as in their persons they are themselves
fallen and corruptible. When redeemed from the power of
the grave, and entered on the glories of the new creation, the
natural Canaan will be as unfit to be their proper home and
possession, as the original Eden would have been with its tree
of life. Much more so, indeed, — for the earth in its present
state is adapted to the support and enjoyment of man, as con-
stituted not only after the earthly Adam, but after him as
underlying the pernicious effects of the curse. And the ulti-
mate inheritance destined for Abraham and the heirs of pro-
mise, which was to become theirs after the resurrection from
the dead, must be as much higher and better than anything
which the earth, in its present state, can furnish, as man's
nature, when glorified, shall be higher and better than it is
while in bondage to sin and death.

Nothing less than this certainly is taught in what is said of
the inheritance, as expected by the patriarchs, in the Epistle to

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 407

the Hebrews: ' These all died in faith, not having received the
promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded
of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were
strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such
things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if
tliev had been mindful of that country from whence they came
out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But
now tln-v desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: where-
fore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for lie hath
prepared for them a city.1 1 Without entering into any minute
commentary on this passage, it cannot but be regarded as per-
fectly conclusive of two points : First, that Abraham, and the
heirs with him of the same promise, did understand and believe
that the inheritance secured to them under the promise of
Canaan (for that was the only word spoken to them of an
inheritance) was one in which they had a personal interest.
And then, secondly, that the inheritance, as it was to be
occupied and enjoyed by them, was to be, not a temporary, but
a final one, — one that might fitly be designated a ' heavenly
country,' a city built by divine hands, and based on immovable
foundations, — in short, the ultimate and proper resting-place
of redeemed and glorified natures. This was what these holy
patriarchs expected and desired, — what they were warranted to
expect and desire ; — for their conduct in this respect is the
subject of commendation, and is justified on the special ground,
that otherwise God must have been ashamed to be called their
God. And, finally, it was what they found contained in the
promise to them, of an inheritance in the land in which they
were pilgrims and strangers ; for to that promise alone could
they look for the special ground of the hopes they cherished of
a sure and final possession. J

1 Eeb. xi. 13-16.
3ee Appendix B. The views given in the text respecting the faith
and hope of Old Testament believers are beginning now (1869) to find
more acceptance in Germany than was thi boul twenty yean

when the firsl edition of this work was published. >.r in particular! lehler'a
article in Herzog, Snppl. iii., UntterblicJikeit, Lehre des A. Testaments, where
they are substantially set forth; also Klofltermann'a Untortuchvmgen zur
alttest. Theologie, in which the hope of the resurrection is endeavoured to
be proved from Ps, exxxix., lxxiii., and xlix.

408 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

But the question again returns, What is that possession itself
really to be ? That it cannot be the country itself of Palestine,
either in its present condition, or as it might become under any
system of culture of which nature is capable, is too obvious to
require any lengthened proof. The twofold fact, that the pos-
session was to be man's ultimate and proper inheritance, and
that it could be attained only after the resurrection from the
dead, clearly forbids the supposition of its being the literal land
of Canaan, under any conceivable form of renovated fruitf ill-
ness and beauty. This is also evident from the nature of the
promise that formed the ground of Abraham's hope, — which
made mention only of the land of Canaan, — and which, as
pointing to an ulterior inheritance, must have belonged to that
combination of type with prophecy which we placed first, viz.
having the promise, or prediction, not in the language employed,
but in the typical character of the object which that language
described. The promise made to Abraham Was simple enough
in itself. It gave assurance of a land distinctly marked off by
certain geographical boundaries. It was not properly in the
words of that promise that he could read his destiny to any
future and ultimate inheritance ; but putting together the two
things, that the promised good could be only realized fully in
an after-state of being, and that all the relations of the time
then present were preparative and temporary representations of
better things to come, he might hence perceive that the earthly
Canaan was a type of what was finally to be enjoyed. Thus
the establishment of his offspring there would be regarded
as a prophecy, in fact, of the exaltation of the whole of an
elect seed to their destined state ot blessing and glory. But
such being the case — the prediction standing altogether in
the type — the thing predicted and promised must, in con-
formity with all typical relations, have been another and far
higher thing than that which served to predict and promise
it. Canaan could not be the type of itself : it could only re-
present, on the lower platform of nature, what was hereafter
to be developed on the loftier arena of God's everlasting
kingdom ; and as far as the things of fallen and corrupt
nature differ from, and are inferior to, those of redemption,
so far must the rest of Canaan have differed from, and

THE DESTINED INHERITANI 409

boon inferior to, l that rest which remaincth for the people of
God.' »

What that final rest or inheritance] which forms the anti-
type to Canaan, really is, we may gather from the words of the
apostle concerning it in Eph. i. 11, where he calls the Spirit
i the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the
purchased possession."*' It is plain that the subject here dis-
coursed of is not onr persons, but our goods; not what believers
in their souls ami bodies are to be hereafter, but what is pre-
pared for their enjoyment. For the inheritance which belongs
to a person must always be separate from the person himself.
And as that which is called an inheritance in the one clause is
undoubtedly the same with that which in the other is named a
possession, purchased or acquired, but not yet redeemed, the re-
demption of the possession must be a work to be accomplished
for us, and not to be wrought in us. It must be a change to
the better, effected not upon our persons, but upon the outward
provision secured for their ulterior happiness and wellbeing.

It is true that the Church of God, the company of sound
and genuine believers, is sometimes called the inheritance or
purchased possession of God. In Old Testament Scripture His

1 See Appendix D.

- I hat the received translation gives here the sense of the original with
-tantial correctness, I am fully satisfied. The latter part of it, i/j
u-r/Aurpuaiv t*i; Tfpixoitiatof, has been variously understood, and its natural
import too commonly overlooked. Robinson, in his Lexicon, makes it =
a.Tro'/.vTCto'jii/ «J» mpireifihtamr, the redemption acquired for us, — a violent
change, which could only be justified if absolutely necessary. The only two
m oses iii which the word occurs in the New Testament, are — 1. Acquiring^
acquisition, obtaining, 1 These, v. 9\ 2 These, ii. 14; Heb. x. o'J ; 2. The
thing obtained or acquired, potscs.iion, in which sense, unquestionably, it is
OSed in Mai. iii. 17. and in 1 Pet ii 9. In both of these places it is applied

to the Church, as God's acquired, purchased possession, and is equal to lli<
peculium, or property in the stricter sense. His select treasure, which is re-
1 to Him as nothing else is, which lie lias acquired or purchased, vtpii'
Tonioetro, by His own blond : Acts xx. 28, comp. also Ex. xix. 'i ; Deut. vii.
6 ; Tit. ii. 14. The gi at majority of intei pretera, from I !ah in to Bllicott,
are rif opinion, that because in these passages irtpiToi'nais is used as a desig-
nation of the Church, considered as God's peculiar property, it has the same
meaning here, ' unto, or until, the redemption of His purohasi d people,1 as
Boothroyd expressly renders, Hut this vii ■• is liable to three objections.
1. The word rtpiiroifiais is nowhere absolutely and by itself put for 'pur-

410 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

people are styled His ' heritage,' ' His treasure ; ' and in New
Testament Scripture we find St. Peter addressing them as ' a
peculiar people,' or literally, a people for a possession — namely,
a possession of God, acquired or purchased by the precious
blood of His dear Son. The question here, however, is not of
what may be called God's inheritance, but of ours ; not of our
redemption from the bondage of evil as a possession of God,
which He seeks to enjoy free from all evil, but of that which
we are ourselves to possess and occupy as our final portion.
And as we could with no propriety be called our own inherit-
ance, or our own possession, it must be something apart from,
and out of ourselves, which is here to be understood, — not a
state of being to be held, but a portion of blessing and glory to
be enjoyed.

Now, whatever the inheritance or possession may be in itself,
and whatever the region where it is to be enjoyed, when it is
spoken of as needing to be redeemed, we are evidently taught
to regard it as something that has been alienated from us, but
is again to be made ours ; not a possession altogether hew, but
an old possession, lost, and again to be reclaimed from the
powers of evil, which now overmaster and destroy it. So was

chased people,' or ' Church ; ' when so used, it has the addition of ~hu6g. 2.
The redemption of the Church -would then be regarded as future, whereas
it is always represented as past. "We read of the redemption of the bodies
of believers as yet to take place, but never of the redemption of the
Church ; that is uniformly spoken of as having been effected by the death
of Christ. 3. It does not suit the connection : for the apostle is speaking
of the indwelling of the Spirit as the earnest of the inheritance to which
believers are destined ; and as an earnest is given as a temporary substitute
for the inheritance or possession, the term to which, or the end in respect to
which it is given, must be, not some other event of a collateral nature, but
the coming or receiving of the possession itself. Then, while these objec-
tions apply to the common view, there is no need for resorting to it : while
it does violence to the word, it only obscures the sense. Eig ?npt7roiyatv,
both CEciunenius and Theophylact, on 1 Pet. ii. 9, hold to be tig xrijow, tig
xhYipovoptoiu, for a possession, for an inheritance. And Didymus on the
same place, as quoted by Steiger, says, ' that is ■xipmo'iwtg, which, by way
of distinction, is reckoned among our substance and possessions.' There-
fore the correct meaning here is that given by Calov : ' Ilspi7roiYia'g, the
abstract being placed for the concrete, is to be understood of the acquired
inheritance, for the Holy Spirit is the pledge and earnest until the full
redemption of the acquired inheritance.'

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 411

it certainly with our persons. They were sold under sin. With
our loss of righteousness before God, we lost at the same time
our spiritual freedom, and all that essentially belonged to the
pare and blessed life, in the possession of which we were
created. Instead of this, we became subject to the tyrannous
dominion of the prince of darkness, holding us captive in our
souls to the foul and wretched bondage of sin, and in our bodies
to the mortality and corruption of death. The redemption of
our persons is just their recovery from this lost and ruinous
state, to the freedom of God's children, and the blessedness of
immortal life in His presence and glory. It proceeds at every
step by acts of judgment upon the great adversary and oppres-
sor, who took advantage of the evil, and ever seeks t<> drive it
to the uttermost. And when the work shall be completed by
the redemption of the body from the power of the grave, there
shall then be the breaking up of the last bond of oppression
that lay upon our natures, — the putting down of the last enemy,
that the son of wickedness may no longer vex or injure us.

In this redemption-process, which is already begun upon the
people of God, and shall be consummated in the glories of the
resurrection, it is the same persons, the same soul and body,
which have experience both of the evil and of the good.
Though the change is so great and wonderful that it is some-
times called a new creation, it is not in the sense of anything
being brought into existence, which previously had no being.
Such language is simply used on account of the happy and
glorious transformation that is made to pass upon the natures
which already exist, but exist only in a state of misery and
oppression. And when the same language is applied to the
inheritance which is used of the persons of those who are to
enjoy it, what can this indicate but that the same things are
true concerning it? The bringing in of that inheritance, in its
finished state of fulness and glory, is in like manner called ' the
making of all things new;' but it is so called only in respect
to the wonderful transformation which is to be wrought upon
the old things, which are thereby to receive another constitu-
tion, and present another aspect, than they were wont to do
before. For that the possession is to be redeemed, bespeaks it
as a thing to be recovered, not to be made, — a thing already

412 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

in being, thou en so changed from its original destination, so
marred and spoiled, overlaid with so many forms of evil, and so
far from serving the ends for which it is required, that it may-
be said to be alienated from us, in the hands of the enemy, for
the prosecution of his purposes of evil.

Now, what is it, of which this can be affirmed ? If it is said
heaven, — and by that is meant what is commonly understood,
some region far removed from this lower world, in the sightless
realms of ether, — then we ask, was heaven in that sense ever
man's ? Has it become obnoxious to any evils, from which it
must be delivered ? or has it fallen into the hands of an enemy
and an oppressor, from whose evil sway it must again be re-
deemed ? None of these things surely can be said of such a
heaven. It would be an altogether new inheritance, a posses-
sion never held, consequently never lost, and incapable of being
redeemed. And there is nothing that answers such a descrip-
tion, or can possibly realize the conditions of such an inherit-
ance, but what lies within the bounds and compass of this earth
itself, with which the history of man has hitherto been con-
nected both in good and evil, and where all the possession is
that he can properly be said either to have held or to have lost.

Let us again recur to the past. Man's original inheritance
was a lordship or dominion, stretching over the whole earth,
but extending no farther. It entitled him to the ministry of all
creatures within its borders, and the enjoyment of all fruits and
productions upon its surface — one only excepted, for the trial
of his obedience.1 When he fell, he fell from his dominion, as
well as from his purity ; the inheritance departed from him ;
he was driven from paradise, the throne and palace of his king-
dom ; labour, servitude, and suffering, became his portion in the
world ; he was doomed to be a bondsman, a hewer of wood and
drawer of water, on what was formed to be his inheritance ; and
all that he has since been able, by hard toil and industry, to
acquire, is but a partial and temporary command over some
fragments of what was at first all his own. Nor is that the
whole. For with man's loss of the inheritance, Satan was per-
mitted to enter, and extend his usurped sway over the domain
from which man has been expelled as its proper lord. And this

1 Gen. i. 28-31 ; Ps. viii.

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 413

he docs by filling the world with agencies and works of evil, —
spreading disorder through the elements of nature, and disaffec-
tion among the several ranks of being, — above all, corrupting
the minds of men, so as to lead them to cast off the authority
of God, and to use the things He confers on them for their own
selfish ends and purposes, for the injury and oppression of their
fellow-men, for the encouragement of sin and suppression of the
truth of God, — for rendering the world, in short, as far as pos-
sible, a region of darkness and not of light, a kingdom of Satan
and not of God, a theatre of malice, corruption, and disorder,
not of love, harmony, and blessedness.

Now, as the redemption of man's person consists in his being
rescued from the dominion of Satan — from the power of sin in
his soul, and from the reign of deatli in his body, which are the
two forms of Satan's dominion over man's nature ; what can
the redemption of the inheritance be but the rescuing of this
earth from the manifold ills which, through the instrumentality
of Satan, have come to lod^e in his bosom, — purging its elements
of all mischief and disorder, — changing it from being the vale
of tears and the charnel-house of deatli, into a paradise of life
and blessing, — restoring to man, himself then redeemed and
fitted for the honour, the sceptre of a real dominion over all its
fulness, — in a word, rendering it in character and design what
it was on creation's morn, when the sons of God shouted for
joy, and God Himself looked with satisfaction on the goodness
and order and beauty which pervaded this portion of His uni-
verse '. To do such a work as this upon the earth, would mani-
festly be to redeem the possession which man by disobedience
forfeited and lost, and a new title to which has been purchased
by Christ for all His spiritual seed; for were that done, the
enemy would be completely foiled and cast out, and man's
proper inheritance' restored.

But some are perhaps ready to ask, Is that, then, all the in-
heritance that the redeemed have to look for ? Is their abode
still to be upon earth, and their portion of good to be confined
to what may be derived from its material joys and occupations .'
Is paradise restored to be simply the re-establishment and en-
largement of paradise lost? We might reply to such questions
by putting similar ones regarding the persons of the redeemed.

414 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

Are these still, after all, to be the same persons they were
during the days of their sojourn on earth ? Is the soul, when
expatiating amid the glorious scenes of eternity, to live in the
exercise of the same powers and faculties which it employed on
the things of time % And is the outward frame, in which it is
to lodge, and act, and enjoy itself, to be that very tabernacle
which it bore here in weakness, and which it left behind to rot
and perish in the tomb ? Would any one feel at a moment's
loss to answer such questions in the affirmative ? Does it in
any respect shock our feeling, or lower the expectations we feel
warranted to cherish concerning our future state, when we
think that the very soul and body which together constitute
and make up the being we now are, shall also constitute and
make up the being we are to be hereafter ? Assuredly not ;
for however little we know what we are to be hereafter, we are
not left in ignorance that both soul and body shall be freed
from all evil ; and not only so, but in the process shall be un-
speakably refined and elevated. We know it is the purpose of
God to magnify in us the riches of His grace by raising our
natures higher than the fall has brought them low — to glorify,
while He redeems them, and so to render them capable of
spheres of action and enjoyment beyond not only what eye has
seen or ear has heard, but even what has entered into the mind
of man to conceive.

And why may we not think and reason thus also, concern-
ing the inheritance which these redeemed natures are to occupy?
Why may not God do a like work of purification and refine-
ment on this solid earth, so as to transform and adapt it into
a fit residence for man in glory % Why may not, why should
not, that which has become for man, as fallen, the house of
bondage and the field of ruin, become also for man redeemed
the habitation of peace and the region of pre-eminent delight ?
Surely He, who from the very stones can raise up children unto
Abraham, and who will bring forth from the noisome corrup-
tion of the tomb, forms clothed with honour and majesty, can
equally change the vile and disordered condition of the world,
as it now is, and make it fit to be ' the house of the glory of
His kingdom,' — a world where the eye of redeemed manhood
shall be regaled with sights of surpassing loveliness, and his ear

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 415

ravished with sounds of sweetest melody, and his desires satisfi. !
with purest delight, — ay, a world, it may be, which, as it alone
of all creation's orbs has been honoured to bear the footsteps of
an incarnate God, and witness the performance of Ilis noblest
work, s<> may it also become the region around which lie will
pour the richest manifestations of His glorious presence, and
possibly send from it, by the ministry of His redeemed, com-
munications of love and kindness to the farthest bounds of Ilis
habitable universe !

N i : when rightly considered, it is not a low and degrading
view of the inheritance which is reserved for the heirs of salva-

i, to place it in the possession of this very earth which we
now inhabit, after it shall have been redeemed and glorified.
I feel it for myself to be rather an ennobling and comforting
thought ; and were I left to choose, out of all creation's bounds,
the place where my redeemed nature is to find its local habita-
tion, enjoy its Redeemer's presence, and reap the fruits of Ilis
costly purchase, I would prefer none to this. For if destined
to so high a purpose, I know it will be made in all respects
what it should be — the paradise of delight, the very heaven of
glory and blessing, which I desire and need. And then the
connection between what it now is, and what it shall have
become, must impart to it an interest which can belong to no
other region in the universe. If anything could enhance our
exaltation to the lordship of a glorious and blessed inheritance,
it would surely be the feeling of possessing it in the very place
where we were once miserable bondmen of sin and corruption.
And if anything should dispose us to bear meekly our present
heritage of evil, to quicken our aspirations after the period of
deliverance, and to raise our affections above the vain and
perishable things around us, it should be the thought that all
we can now either have or experience from the world is part of
a possession forfeited and accursed, but that it only waits for
the transforming power of God to be changed into the inherit-
ance of the saints in light, when heaven and earth shall be
mingled into one.

lint if this renovated earth is to be itself the inheritance of
the redeemed, — if it, in the first instance at least, is to be the
heaven where they are to reap life everlasting, how, it may be

4 1 G THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

asked, can heaven be spoken of as above ns, and represented as
the higher region of God's presence? Such language is never,
that we are aware of, used in Scripture to denote the final
dwelling-place of God's people ; and if it were used there, as it
often is in popular discourse, it would need, of course, to be
understood with that limitation which requires to be put upon
all our more definite descriptions of a future world. To regard
expressions of the kind referred to, as determining our final
abode to be over our heads, were to betray a childish ignorance
of the fact, that what is such by day, is the reverse of what is so
by night. Such language properly denotes the superior nature
of the heavenly inheritance, and not its relative position. God
can make any region of His universe a heaven, since heaven is
there where He manifests His presence and glory ; and why
might He not do so here, as well as in any other part of crea-
tion ? — But is it not said that the kingdom in which the re-
deemed are to live and reign for ever was prepared for them
before the foundation of the world ; and how, then, can the
scene of it be placed on this earth, still waiting to be redeemed
for the purpose? The preparation there meant, however,
cannot possibly be an actual fitting up of the place which be-
lievers are to occupy with their Lord ; for wherever it is, the
apostle tells us it still needs to be redeemed : in that sense it is
not yet ready ; and Christ Himself said, when on the eve of
leaving the world, that He was going to prepare it, as He does
by directing, on His throne of glory, the events which are to
issue in its full establishment. Still, from the first it might be
said to be prepared, because destined for Christ and His elect
people in the mind of God, even as they were all chosen in
Him before the foundation of the world ; and every successive
act in the history of the mediatorial kingdom is another step
toward the accomplishment of the purpose. — Are we not again
told, however, that the earth is to be destroyed, its elements
made to melt with fervent heat, and all its works consumed ?
Unquestionably this is said, though not by any means neces-
sarily implying that the earth is really to be annihilated. We
know that God is perpetually causing changes to pass over the
works of His hands ; but that He actually annihilates any, we
have no ground, either in nature or in Scripture, to suppose.

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 117

If in the latter, we are told of man's body, that it perishes, and
is consumed by the moth; yet of what are we more distinctly
assured, than that it is not doomed to absolute destruction, but
shall live again I When we read of the old world being de-
stroyed by the flood, we know that the material fabric of the
earth continued as before. Indeed, much the same language
that is applied to the earth in this respect, is also extended to
the heaven's themselves; for they too are represented as ready
to pass away, and to be changed as a vesture, and the promise

aks of new heavens as well as a new earth. And in regard
to this earth in particular, there is nothing in the language used
concerning it to prevent us from believing that the fire which,
in the day of God's judgment, is to burst forth with consuming
violence, may, like the waters of the deluge, and in a far higher
ipect than they, act as an element of purification, — dissolving,
indeed, the present constitution of things, and leaving not a
wreck behind of all we now see and handle, but at the same
time rectifying and improving the powers of nature, refining
and elevating the whole framework of the earth, and impress-
ing on all that belongs to it a transcendent, imperishable glory;
so that, in condition and appearance, it shall be substantially a
new world, and one as far above what it now is as heaven is
above the earth.

There is nothing, then, in the other representations of
Scripture which appears, when fairly considered, to raise any
valid objection against the renovated earth being the ultimate
inheritance of the heirs of promise. And there is much to shut
us up to the conclusion that it is so. We have enlarged on one

timony of inspiration, not because it is the only or the chief
one on the -object, but because it is so explicit, that it seems
decisive of the question. For an inheritance which has been
already acquired or purchased, but which must be redeemed
before it can really be our possession, can be understood of
nothing but that original domain which sin brought, together
with man, into the bondage of evil at the fall. And of what

• can we understand the representation in the <sth Psalm, as

interpreted by the pen of inspiration it-f]f, in the Epistle to
the Hebrews, ii. 5-'.', and in 1 Cor. xv. L'7, 28 I These pa—
Bagea in the New Testament put it beyond a doubt that the

\ • •!.. I. 2D

418 THE TYrOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

idea of perfect and universal dominion delineated in the Psalm,
is to be realized in the world to come, over which Christ, as the
head of redeemed humanity, is to rule, in company with His
redeemed people. The representation itself in the Psalm is
evidently borrowed from the first chapter of Genesis, and, con-
sidered as a prophecy of good things to come, or a prediction of
the dignity and honour already obtained for man in Christ, and
hereafter to be revealed, it may be regarded as simply present-
ing to our view the picture of a restored and renovated creation.
' It is just that passage in Genesis which describes the original
condition of the earth,' to use the words of Hengstenberg,
' turned into a prayer for us,' and we may add, into an object
of hope and expectation. When that prayer is fulfilled, — in
other words, when the natural and moral evils entailed bv the
fall have been abolished, and the earth shall stand to man, when
redeemed and glorified, in a similar relation to what it did at
the birth of creation, — then shall the hope we now possess of an
inheritance of glory be turned into enjoyment.. In Isa. xi. 6-9,
the final results of Messiah's reiom are in like manner delineated
under the aspect of a world which has obtained riddance of all
the disorders introduced by sin, and is restored to the blessed
harmony and peace which characterized it when God pro-
nounced it very good. And still more definitely, though with
reference to the same aspect of things, the Apostle Peter1 re-
presents the time of Christ's second coming as ; the time of the
restitution of all things,' — the time when everything shall be
restored to its pristine condition, made as at first all pure and
good, a true theatre of life and blessing, only higher in degree,
as it is the design and tendency of redemption to ennoble what-
soever it touches.2

It is precisely on the same object, a redeemed and glorified
earth, that the Apostle Paul, in the 8th chapter of the Romans,
fixes the mind of believers as the terminating point of their

1 Actsiii. 21.

- That this is simply the force of the original here, it may be enough
to give the meaning of the main word from the lexicographer Hesychius :
ci-zroKXTcitJToun; 'is the restoration of a thing to its former state, or to a
better; restitution, consummation, a revolution of the grander kind, from
•which a new order of things arises, rest after turmoil.1

THE DESTINED INHERIT A XCE. 410

h"pcs of glory. An incomparable glory is to be revealed in
them : and in connection with that, 'the deliverance of a suffer-
ing creation from the bondage <>f corruption into the glorious
liberty of the sons of God.' What can this deliverance be, but
what is marked in the Epistle to the Ephesians, as ' the re-
demption of the purchased possession?' Nor is it possible to
connect with anything else the words of Peter in bis second
Epistle, where, after speaking of the dreadful conflagration
which is to consume all that belongs to the earth in its present
form, he adds, — ;is if expressly to guard against supposing that be
meant the actual and entire destruction of this world as the abode
of man, — ' Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for
new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.'

It is only by understanding the words of Christ Himself,
' The nnek shall inherit the earth,' of the earth in that new-
condition, its state of blessedness and glory, that any full or
adequate sense can be attached to them. He could not surely
mean the earth as it then was, or as it is to be during any
period of its existence, wdrile sin and death reign in it. So long
as it is in that condition, not only will the saints of God have
many things to suffer in it, as our Lord immediately foretold,
when He spake of the persecutions for righteousness' sake
which His people should have to endure, and on account of
which He bade them look for their ' reward in heaven;' but
all th" treasure it contains must be of the moth-eaten, perishable
kind, which they are expressly forbidden to covet, and the earth

If must be that city without continuance, in contrast to
which they are called to seek one to come. To speak, therefore,
of the tendency of piety in gen. ral, and of a mild and gracious
disposition in particular, to secure for men a prosperous and
happy life on earth, however true in itself, is to reach but a small

way towards the fulfilment of the promise, that they shall * in-
herit the earth.' It it could even command for them the wli

that earth now can give, would Christ on that account have
called them hies edt Would lie not rather have warned them
to beware of the deceit fulness of riches, and the abundance of

honours thus likely to How into their bosom I To be blessed in the
earth as an inheritance, must import that the earth has become
to them a real and proper good, such as it : hall be when it has

420 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

been transformed into a fit abode for redeemed natures. This
view is also confirmed, and apparently rendered as clear and
certain as language can make it, by the representations con-
stantly given by Christ and the inspired writers of His return
to the earth and manifestation on it in glory, as connected with
the last scenes and final issues of His kingdom. When He left
the world, it was as a man going into a far countrv, from which
He was to come again ; x the heaven received Him at His re-
surrection, but only until the times of the restitution of all
things ;2 the period of His residence within the veil, is coincident
with that during which His people have to maintain a hidden
life, and is to be followed by another, in which they and He
together are to be manifested in glory.3 And in the book of
Revelation, while unquestionably the scenes are described in
figurative language, yet when exact localities are mentioned as
the places where the scenes are to be realized, and that in con-
nection with a plain description of the condition of those who
are to have part in them, we are compelled, by all the ordinary
rules of composition, to regard such localities as real and proper
habitations. What, then, can we make of the ascription of
praise from the elders, representatives of a redeemed Church,
when they give glory to the Messiah, as ' having made them
kings and priests unto God, and they shall reign with Him upon
the earth ? ' Or what of the closing scenes, where the evan-
gelist sees a new heaven and a new earth in the room of those
which had passed away, and the new Jerusalem coming down
out of heaven to settle on the renovated earth, and the tabernacle
of God fixed amongst men ? 4 Granting that the delineations
of the book are a succession of pictures, drawn from the re-
lations of things in the former ages of the world, and especially
under the Old Testament economy, and that the fulfilment to
be looked for is not as of a literal description, but as of a sym-
bolical representation, yet there must be certain fixed landmarks
as to time and place, persons and objects, which, in their natures
or their names, are so clearly defined, that by them the relation
of one part to another must be arranged and interpreted. For

1 Matt. xxv. 14 ; Luke xix. 12 ; John xiv. 3. 2 Acts iii. 21.

3 Col. iii. 4 ; Heb. ix. 28 ; 1 John iii. 2 ; Rev. i. 7.

4 Rev. v. 9, 10, xxi. 1-5.

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 421

example, in the above quotations, we cannot doubt who are
kiiiir^ and priests, or with whom they are to reign ; and it were
surely strange, if there could be any doubt of the theatre of
their dominion, when it is so expressly denominated the earth.
And still more strange, if, when heaven and earth are mentioned
relatively to each other, and the scene of the Church's future
glory Bxed upon the latter as contradistinguished from the
former, earth should yet stand for heaven, and not for itself.
Indeed, the most striking feature in the representations of the
Apocalvpse is the uniformity with which they connect the
higher grade of blessing with earth, and the lower with the
world of spirits. It invariably points to a double stage of
1.1 38 Iness, — the one awaiting believers immediately after their
departure out of this life, the other what they are to receive
when they enter the New Jerusalem, and reign with Christ in
glory.1 13ut we find the same in our Lord's teaching, as when
lie said to the thief on the cross, 'To-day shalt thou be with
me in paradise,' and yet pointed His disciples to the state of
things on earth after the resurrection for their highest reward.2
And, on the whole, we are forced to conclude with Usteri, that
1 the conception of a transference of the perfected kingdom of
( i d into the heavens is, properly speaking, modern, seeing that,
according to Paul and the Apocalypse (and, he might also have
added, Peter and Christ. Himself}, the seat of the kingdom of
God is the earth, inasmuch as that likewise partakes in the
general renovation.'8

1 See Hengstenberg on ch. xx. 4, 5. 2 Matt. xix. 28.

■"■ The abort is quoted by Tholuok, on Rom. viii. 19, who him-

Belf there, ami on Heb. ii., concurs in the same view. lie also ,-t
what cannot !"■ denied, that it is the view which has been adopted by the
greatest number ami the most ancient of the expositors, amongst whom
he mentions, though he does net cite, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Jerome,
Am . Ambrose, Luther, etc. And Rivet, on Gen. viii. 22, states

that the opinion which maintains only a change, and nut an utter de-
struction of the world, ' I supporters, both among the elder and the
more recent writers, so that it may be called, says he, 'the common one,
and be said to prevail by the number of its adherents.1 In tin' present
day, the opposite opinion would probably be entitled to be regard e 1 a- by
much the most common ; and the Hew here set forth will perha] I ■;. some
be eyed with jealousy, if not condemned as novel. It may be proper,

refore, to give a few quotations from the more eminent commentators.

422 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

Having now closed our investigation, we draw the following
conclusions from it.

1. The earthly Canaan was neither designed by God, nor
from the first was it understood by His people to be the ulti-
mate and proper inheritance which they were to occupy ; things
having been spoken and hoped for concerning it which plainly
could not be realized within the bounds of Canaan.

2. The inheritance was one which could be enjoyed only
by those who had become the children of the resurrection,
themselves fully redeemed in soul and body from all the effects
and consequences of sin, — made more glorious and blessed,
indeed, than if they had never sinned, because constituted after
the image of the heavenly Adam. And as the inheritance
must correspond with the inheritor, it can only be man's
original possession restored, — the earth redeemed from the
curse which sin brought on it, and, like man himself, rendered
exceedingly more beautiful and glorious than in its primeval
state, — the fit abode of a Church made like, in all its members,
to the Son of God.

3. The occupation of the earthly Canaan by the natural
seed of Abraham was a type, and no more than a type, of this

Jerome, on Isa. lxv. 17, quotes Ps. cii. 26 and 27, which he thinks ' clearly
demonstrates that the perdition spoken of is not a reducing to nothing,
but a change to the better ;' and having referred to what Peter says of the
new heavens and the new earth, he remarks that the apostle ' does not
say, we look for other heavens and another earth, but for the old and
original ones transformed into a better state.' Of the fathers generally,
as of Justin Martyr in particular, Semisch states that they regarded the
future destruction of the world by fire ' far more frequently as a trans-
formation than as an annihilation.' — {Life and Times of Justin, Bib. Cab.,
vol. xlii. p. 366.) Calvin, while he discourages minute inquiries and
vain speculations regarding the future state, expresses himself with con-
fidence, on Rom. viii. 21, as to this world being the destined theatre of
glory, and considers it as a proof of the incomparable glory to which the
sons of God are to be raised, that the lower creation is to be renewed for the
purpose of manifesting and ennobling it, just as the disorders and troubles
of creation have testified to the appalling evil of our sin. So also Haldaue,
as little inclined to the fanciful as Calvin, on the same passage, after
quoting from 2 Pet. and Rev., continues: 'The destruction of the sub-
stance of things differs from a change in their qualities. When metal of a
certain shape is subjected to fire, it is destroyed as to its figure, but not as
to its substance. Thus the heavens and the earth will pass through the

THE DESTINED INHERITANCE. 423

occupation by a redeemed Church of Iter destined inheritance
of glory ; and consequently everything concerning the entrance
of the former on their temporary possession, was ordered so as
to represent and foreshadow the tilings which belong to the
Church's establishment in her permanent possession. Hence,
between the giving of the promise, which, though it did not
terminate in the land of Canaan, yet included that, and through
it prospectively exhibited the better inheritance, a series of
important events intervened, which are capable of being fully
and properly explained in no other way than by means of their
typical bearing on the things hereafter to be disclosed respect-
ing that better inheritance. If we ask, why did the heirs of
promise wander about so long as pilgrims, and withdraw to a
foreign region before they were allowed to possess the land, and
not rather, like a modern colony, quietly spread, without strife
or bloodshed, over its surface, till the whole was possessed ?
Or, why were they suffered to fall under the dominion of a
foreign power, from whose cruel oppression they needed to be
redeemed, with terrible executions of judgment on the oppressor,
before the possession could be theirs? Or why, before that
event also, should they have been put under the discipline of

fire, but only that they may be purified and come forth anew, more
llent than before. This hopi — the hope of deliverance — was held out
in the .sentence pronounced on man. for in the doom of our first parents
tlic divine purpose of providing a deliverer was revealed. We know not
the circumstances of this change, how it will be effected, or in what form

tli'' creatiOD — those new heavens and that new earth, -wherein dwcllith

-. suited f"r tii.- abode of the sons of God — shall then exist ;

but we .ire sure it shall be worthy of the divine wisdom, although at

nt beyond our comprehension.' To the same effect Fuller, in his

Gospel its own Witness, ch. v. Thiersch says of the promise to Abraham,

'Undoubtedly it pointed to a kingdom of God upon earth, not in an

invisible world <>f spirits. Paradise itself had been upon earth much more

earth be thi centre "f the world to come.1 — (History^ L p. 20.)

Olshausen also on Matt. viii. Mr. Stuart, in his work on Romans,
expresses his strong dissenl from BuchviewB, on the ground of their being
opposed to tin' declarations of Christ, and requiring such a literal inter-
pretation of prophecy as would lead to absurd and ridiculous expectations
in regard to other predictions. We can perceive no contrariety, however,
to any declaration of Christ or His apostles; and the other predictions he
i fers to belong to quite another class, and do net require, or even admit,
as might qu ly lie shewn, of a strictly literal fulfilment.

424 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

Jaw, having the covenant of Sinai, with its strict requirements
and manifold obligations of service, superadded to the covenant
of grace and promise? Or why, again, should their right to
the inheritance itself have to be vindicated from a race of
occupants wlip had been allowed for a time to keep possession
of it, and whose multiplied abominations had so polluted it,
that nothing short of their extermination could render it a
fitting abode for the heirs of promise % The full and satisfactory
answer to all such questions can only be given by viewing the
whole in connection with the better things of a higher dis-
pensation, — as the first part of a plan which was to have its
counterpart and issue in the glories of a redeemed creation, and
for the final results of which the Church needed to be prepared
by standing in similar relations, and passing through like ex-
periences, in regard to an earthly inheritance. No doubt, with
one and all of these there were connected reasons and results
for the time then present, amply sufficient to justify every step
in the process, when considered simply by itself. But it is only
when we take the whole as a glass, in which to see mirrored
the far greater things which from the first were in prospect,
that we can get a comprehensive view of the mind of God in
appointing them, and know the purposes which He chiefly con-
templated.

For example, the fact of Abraham and his immediate de-
scendants being appointed to wander as pilgrims through the
land of Canaan, without being allowed to occupy any part of
it as their own possession, may be partly explained, though in
that view it must appear somewhat capricious, by its being con-
sidered as a trial to their own faith, and an act of forbearance
and mercy toward the original possessors, whose iniquities were
not yet full. But if we thus find grounds of reason to explain
why it may have been so ordered, when we come to look upon
the things which happened to them, as designed to image other
things which were afterwards to characterize the relation of God's
people to a higher and better inheritance, we see it was even
necessary that those transactions should have been so ordered,
and that it would have been unsuitable for the heirs of promise,
either entering at once on the possession, or living as pilgrims
and expectants, anywhere but within its borders. For thus

Till: DESTINED INHERITANCE. 425

alone coulil their experience fitly represent the case of God's
people in gospel times, who have not only to wait long for the
redemption of the purchased possession, but while they wait,
must walk up and down as pilgrims in the very region which
they are hereafter to use as their own, when it shall have been
delivered from the powers of evil who now hold it in bondage,
and purged from their abominations. Hence, if they know
aright theft relation to the world as it now is, and their calling
as the heirs of promise, they must sit loose to the things of
earth, even as the patriarchs did to the land of their sojourn, —
must feel that it cannot be the place of their rest so long as it
is polluted, and that they must stedfastly look for the world to
come as their proper home and possession. And thus also the
whole series of transactions which took place between the con-
firmation of the covenant of promise with Jacob, and the actual
possession of the land promised, and especially of course the
things which concerned that, greatest of all the transactions, the
revelation of the law from Sinai, is to be regarded as a delinea-
tion in the typo, of the way and manner in which the heirs of
God are to obtain the inheritance of the purchased possession.
Meanwhile, apart from these later transactions, there are two
important lessons which the Church may clearly gather from
what appears in the first heirs of promise, and which she ought
never to lose sight of: — First, that the inheritance, come when
and how it may, is the free gift of God, bestowed by Him, as
sovereign lord and proprietor, on those whom He calls to the
fellowship of His grace: And, second, that the hope of the in-
hi ritance must exist as an animating principle in their hearts,
influencing all their procedure. Their spirit and character
must be such as become those who are the expectants as well as
heirs of that better country, which is an heavenly; nor can
Christ ever be truly formed in the heart, until lie be formed,
as ' the hope of glory." '

1 £' .'■ _ | luduc E.

APPENDIX A.

THE OLD TESTAMENT IX THE NEW.— P. 139.

I. — Till: HISTORICAL AND DIDACTIC POUTI'

BESIDES numberless allusions of various kinds in the New Testament to the
< >1 1, there are somewhat more than two hundred and fifty express <it;iiions
in the writings of the one from those of the other. These citations are of
unequal length ; they consist often of a single clause, but sometimes also
extend to several verses. They are taken indiscriminately from the different
parts of Old Testament Scripture ; though, with very few exceptions, they
belong to the five books of Moses, the Psalms, and the writings of the
prophets.

Not a few of these citations from the Old Testament are citations of the
simplest kind ; they appear merely as passages quoted in their plain sense
from the previously existing canon of Scripture. Such, for example, are
thi i s out of the books of Moses, with which our Lord, after the simple

notification, ' It is written,' thrice met the assaults of the tempter in the
wilderness ; and such also are those with which Stephen, in his historical
ch before the Jewish council, sought, through appropriate references to
. to enlighten the minds and alarm the consciences of his judges. In
examples of this description, there is nothing that can be said to wear even
. mblance <>f a difficulty, unless it may be regarded as such, that occa-
sionally a slight difference appears in the passages as quoted, from what
they arc as they stand in the original Scripture. But the difference is
never more than a verbal one; the sense of the original is always given with
substantial correctness by the inspired writers in the New Testament ; and
so far as tie principles of interpretation are concerned, there is no

Deed for dwelling on a matter so comparatively minute.

I; i •: p( til] remains a considerable variety of Old Testament passages,
so cited in the New as plainly to involve certain principles of interpretation ;
beo y are cited as grounds of inference for some authoritative con-

clusion, or as proofs of doctrine respecting something connected with the
person, the work, or the kingdom of Christ. A.nd on the supposition of the
authors of the New Testament being inspired i . the character of

these citations is of the gravest importance- lu-f, as providing, in the her-
leutical principles they involve, a test to '.tent of the inspiration

of the writers; and then as furnishing in those principles an infallible

direction for the general interpretation of ancient Scripture. For tb

427

428 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

can be no doubt that the manner in which our Lord and His apostles under-
stood and applied the Scriptures of the Old Testament, was as much in-
tended to throw light generally on the principles of interpretation, as to
administer instruction on the specific points, for the sake of which they
were more immediately appealed to. What, then, is the kind of use made
of the passages in question, and the spirit in which they are explained? Is
it natural and proper? Is there nothing strained, nothing paradoxical,
nothing arbitrary and capricious, in the matter ? Does it altogether com-
mend itself to our understandings and consciences ? It will readily be ad-
mitted to do so in the great majority of cases. And yet it is not to be
denied that there are certain peculiarities connected with the treatment of
the Old Testament in the New, which are very apt to stagger inquirers in
their first attention to the subject. Nay, there are real difficulties attaching
to some parts of it, which have long exercised the ingenuity of the ablest
interpreters, and of which no satisfactory solution can be given, without
a clear and comprehensive insight being first obtained into the connec-
tion subsisting between the preparatory and the ultimate things in God's
kingdom.

In a small publication, which materially contributed to the solution
of some of these difficulties, issued so far back as 1824, Olshausen remarks
concerning the use made of the Old Testament in the New : —

' This has been for all more recent expositors a stone of stumbling, over
which not a few of them have actually fallen. It has appeared to them
difficult, and even impossible, to discover a proper unity and connection in
the constructions put upon the passages by the New Testament writers, or
to refer them to rules and principles. Without being able to refer them to
these, they could not properly justify and approve of them ; neither could
they, on the other hand, altogether disapprove and reject them, without
abandoning everything. So that, in explaining the passages of the Old
Testament which pointed to the New, and again explaining the passages of
the New Testament which expressly referred to and applied the Old, exposi-
tors for the most part found themselves involved in the greatest difficulties,
and, on the one side or the other, resorted to the most violent expedients.
But the explanation of the Old Testament in the New is the very point from
which alone all exposition that listens to the voice of divine wisdom must
set out. For we have here presented to us the sense of Holy Scripture as
understood by inspired men themselves, and are furnished with the true key
of knowledge.'1

It is more especially, however, in the application made by New Testament
writers of the prophecies of the Old Testament, that the difficulties in ques-
tion present themselves. Nor are they by any means of one kind : they
are marked by a considerable diversity ; and the passages will require to be
taken in due order and connection, if we are to arrive at a well-grounded
and satisfactory view of the subject. This is what we mean to do. But
as there are other portions of Old Testament Scripture, besides the pro-
phecies, referred to and quoted in the New, — as much use also is made
1 Lin Wort iiber tie/em Schriftsinn, pp. 7, 8.

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 429

■ of the historical and didactic portions,— H is important, in the G
instance, to notice that this use, with only one or two apparent, and do real

is always of a quite natural and unsophisticated character ; ft
from any ridiculous or i gant conceits, and entirely approving itself

to the judgments of profound and thoughtful readers. Such readers, in-
i. bo naturally expect it to be so, that I ignizance i f

the fact, or ever think of the possibility of its having been otherwise. But
the rather to be coted, as, at the period the New Testament was
written, there was, both in the erally, and in the Jewish Bection of

it in particular, a strong tendency to the al 1 in interpretation — to

the strained, the fanciful, the puerile. The ry con-

tain many plain indications of this. Our Lord even charged the Jewish
- and interpreters of His day with rendering of no effect the law of
'; by their traditions (Mark vii. 11-18); and evidently had it as His
chief aim, in a considerable part of His public teaching, to vindicate the
real sense of ancient Scripture from their false glosses and sophistical per-
vei>ions. The oldest Rabbinical writings extant, which profess to deliver
the traditional interpretations of the leading doctors of the synagogue, Buffi-
;ly evince what need there was for our Lord adopting such a COD
b as know tie -e only from the quotations adduced by Ainsworth, I.ight-
. and similar writers, see them only in what is at once by far their best
si le and their smallest proportions. For, to a large ext< nt, they consist of
jurd, ineii dible, and impure stories; abound with the most arbitrary and
ridiculous conceits ; and, as a who! mm-h more to obscure and j -

i the in. aning of <>ld Testament Scripture than explain it. It •
led as a piece of laudable ingenuity to multiply as much as ]
sible the meanings of every clause and text : for, as Jeremiah had compared
the wi i d to a hammer that breaks the reek in \ o it was

tight, the word must admit - the rock smitten with

the hammer might produce spli e Rabbinical authorities, there-

fore, contend for forty-nine, and others for as many as seventy, meanings to
i verse.1

When •■ out of the strictly Jewish territory to the other theologi-

cal writings of the Idom allowed to travel far without

stumbling on something of the same description. To sty nothing of
writings of Philo, which are replete with fanciful allegorical meanings, but
which could have little if any influence in Judea, in the Epi B irnabas

production probably of the second century) we find, among other frivo-

i I'.i r, Entdecte$ Jvdentkwn, rpL i. <-h. '•. This It

Jewish writingB justly calls their expositions 'foolish and perverted,' and supp
the mini linn with an Thus— to refer only to one or two — on tli

which narral eetingof Esau and Jacob, it Is gathered in the Bar tchith Rabba,

from a small peculiarity En one (»f the words, that Esau « 1 i « i not come to ki.-^s, but to
bite, and that ' our father neck was changed into marble, bo that the I teth of

the ungodly man were broken.' Tb< passage in Ps. xdi, in—- My horn shall Thou
ra of an unicorn ; I shall bt I with fresh oil'— is explained In

JalhU Cbudatk by the sti that while in lai the othei

Jesse the oil was poured out, when JDuvid's tuiu came, the oil of itself flowed uud

430 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

lous things, the circumcision of 318 persons in Abraham's house interpreted
as indicating that the patriarch had received the mystery of three letters.
For the numerical value of the two leading letters that stand for the name
of Jesus is 18, and the letter T, the figure of the cross, is 300 ; ' wherefore
by two letters he signified Jesus, and by the third His cross. He who has
put the engrafted gift of His doctrine within us, knows that I never taught
to any one a more certain truth.' In the Epistle of Clement, a still earlier
production, the scarlet thread which Rahab suspended from her window, is
made to signify that there should be redemption through the blood of Jesus
to all that believe and hope on Him ; and the fable of the Phoenix, dying
after five hundred years, and giving birth, when dead, to another destined
to live for the same period, is gravely treated as a fact in natural science,
and held up as a proof of the resurrection. Some things of a similar nature
are also to be met with in Irenseus, and many in the writings of Justin
Martyr. Let the following suffice for a specimen : —

'When the people fought with Amalek, and the son of Nun, called
Jesus, led on the battle, Moses was praying to God, having his arms ex-
tended in the form of a cross. As long as he remained in that posture,
Amalek was beaten ; but if he ceased in any degree to preserve it, the
people were worsted, — all owing to the power of the cross ; for the people
did not conquer because Moses prayed, but because the name of Jesus was
at the head of the battle, and Moses himself made the figure of the cross.'
— (Dial. Tryph. p. 248, Ed. Sylburg.)

Now, it is surely no small proof of the divine character of the New
Testament writings, that they stand entirely clear from such strained and
puerile interpretations, notwithstanding that they were the production of
the very age and people peculiarly addicted to such things. Though Jesus
of Nazareth, from the circumstances of His early life, could not have en-
joyed more than the commonest advantages, He yet came forth as a public
teacher nobly superior to the false spirit of the times ; never seeking for
the frivolous or the fanciful, but penetrating with the profoundest discern-
ment into the real import of the divine testimony. And even the Apostle
Paul, though brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, whose name is still held
in veneration in the schools of Rabbinical learning, betrays nothing of the
sinister bias in this respect, which his early training must have tended to
impart. He writes as one well skilled, indeed, to reason and dispute, but
still always as one thoroughly versant in the real meaning of Scripture,
and incapable of stooping to anything trifling and fantastical. And that

ran upon his Lead.' These, indeed, are among the simpler specimens ; for, by giving
a numerical value to the letters, the most extravagant and senseless opinions were
thus obtained. The fact, however, is of importance, as it provides a sufficient
answer to the mode of -Interpretation adopted by many modern expositors, who think
it enough, to justify the Evangelists in putting what they regard as a false meaning
upon words of prophecy, to say that tho Jewish writers were in the habit of applying
Scripture in the same way— applying it in a sense different from its original import.
]t is forgotten in this case that the Jewish writers actually believed Scriptui-e to have
many senses, and that when they speak of its being fulfilled, they meant that the
words really had the sense they ascribe to them.

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 431

there should thus have been, in persona so circumstanced, along with n
frequent handling of <)1<1 Testament Scripture, a perfectly sober and intel-
ligent use of it, — a spirit of interpretation pervading and directing that
use, which can Btandeven the searching investigations of the nineteenth
century, — cannot fail tu raise the question in candid and thoughtful
minds, • Whence had these men this wisdom?' It is alone fitted to im-
press ua with the conviction, that they were men specially taught by G
and thai the inspiration of the Almighty gave them understanding.

We have stated, however, that though there are uo real departures in
the writings of the New Testament from a sound and judicious explanation
rical and didactic parts <»f the Old, there are a few apparent
—a few thai may Beem to be such on a superficial consideration. One
passage, and only one in our Lord's history, belongs to this class. It is
His scriptural proof of the resurrection, in reply to the shallow objection
nf the Sadducees, which He drew from the declaration of God to Moses at
bush, ' I am the Cod of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
ob.' It is clear from this alone, our Lord argued, that the dead are
!: ' for God is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all
live unto Him.' — (Matt. xxii. 82; Luke xx. '.'>*.) The argument was
openly stigmatized by the notorious Wolfenbuttle-fragmentist of the last
century, as of the Rabbinical hairsplitting kind; and more recently,
. with some others of a kindred spirit in Germany, have both re-
garded it as a 4 cabalistical exposition,' and urged as an additional reason
lor bo regarding it, that the doctrine of a future state was derived by the
Jews from other nation-, and cannot be proved from the writings of I
old Testament. Mob! worthy successors truly to those Sadducean object
in our Lord BOUghl to confute — equally shallow in their notions of
:. and equally at fault in their reading of His written word ! So far
from deriving tie1 notion of a f nt n t . in the particular aspect of it

now under consideration, — a resurrection from the dead, — from the
then nations around them, tin- .1. ws were the only people in antiquity
whoheldit; the Gentile philosophy in all its branches rejected it as in-

:1.1c And the construction put by OUr Lord on the v,, ■ken to

Mo ' it from being cabalistical or hair.~i.Iit ting, simply penetrates to

the fundamental principles involved in the relation they indicate b

God and His servants. 'The God ,,f Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob' —

theirs in the full and proper sense, t,> 1„. to them, and to do for them,

wh K-h a Being, Btanding in such a relation, could be and do;

therefore, most assuredly, to raise them from the dead, since, if one part
of their natures were to be left there the prey of corruption, lie might
dy be ashamed to lie called their God.— (Heb. \i. 16.) 'How could
.' Neander properly ' place Himself in so near a relation to indi-

vidual men, and ascribe to them .so high a dignity, if they were mire
perishable appearances, if they had not an essence .akin to His own, and
di lined for immortality ? The living God can only be conceived of as the
God of the living.' i Yes, the whole law, in a i I >re witness to that ;

1 H

432 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

for there death constantly appears as the embodiment of foulness and cor-
ruption, with which the pure and Holy One cannot dwell in union, So
that for those who are really His, He must manifest Himself as the con-
queror of death ; their relation to Him, as His peculiar people, is a non-
entity, if it does not carry this in its train. How profound, then, yet how
simple and how true, is the insight which our Lord here discovers into the
realities of things, compared either with His ancient adversaries or His
modern assailants ! . And how little does His argument need such diluted
explanations to recommend it as those of Kuinoel, — ' God is called the
God of any one, in so far as He endows them with benefits ; but He cannot
bestow benefits upon the dead, therefore they live !'

A passage that has much more commonly been regarded by commen-
tators as breathing the dialectics of the Jewish schools, is Gal. iv. 21-31,
where the apostle, in arguing against the legal and fleshly tendencies of
the Galatians, summons them to ' hear the law.' And then he calls to their
remembrance the circumstances recorded of the two wives of Abraham and
their offspring ; the one Sarah, the free woman, the mother of the children
of promise, or the spiritual seed, corresponding to the heavenly Jerusalem
and its true worshippers ; the other Hagar, the bond woman, the mother
of a seed born after the flesh, carnal and ungodly in spirit, and so corre-
sponding to the earthly Jerusalem, or Sinai, with its covenant of law, and
its slavish carnal worshippers. And the apostle declares it as certain
that worshippers of this class must all be cast out from any inheritance in
the kingdom of God, even as Hagar and her fleshly son were, by divine
command, driven out of Abraham's house, that the true child of promise
might dwell in peace, and inherit the blessing. It is true, the apostle
himself calls this an allegorizing of the history, which is quite enough with
some to stamp it as fanciful and weak. And there are others, looking
merely to the superficial appearances, who allege that the exposition fails,
since the child of Hagar had nothing to do with the law, while it was pre-
cisely the posterity of Sarah, by the line of Isaac, who stood bound by its
requirements. This is an objection that could be urged only by those who
did not perceive the real drift of the apostle's statement. We shall have
occasion to unfold this in a subsequent part of our inquiry, when we come
to speak of what the law could not do. Meanwhile, we affirm that the
apostle's comment proceeds on the sound principle, that the things which
took place in Abraham's house in regard to a seed of promise and blessing
were all ordered specially and peculiarly to exhibit at the very outset the
truth, that such a seed must be begotten from above, and that all not thus
begotten, though encompassed, it might be, with the solemnities and privi-
leges of the covenant, were born after the flesh — Ishmaelites in spirit, and
strangers to the promise. The apostle merely reads out the spiritual
lessons that lay enfolded in the history of Abraham's family as significant
of things to come ; and to say that the similitude fails, because the law was
given to the posterity of Sarah and not of Hagar, betrays an utter misap-
prehension of what the real design of the law was, and what should have
been expected from it. The interpretation of the apostle brings out the

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 433

fundamental principles involved in the transactions, and it does no
more.

Those who would fasten on the apostle the charge of resorting to Rab-
binical arbitrariness and conceit, point with considerable confidence to a
passage in the first Epistle to the Corinthians. The passage is 1 Cor. x.
1-4, where the apostle reminds the Corinthians how their fathers had been
• under the cloud, and had pasaed through the sea ; and had been baptized
into Moses in the cloud and in the a B : and had all eaten the same spiritual
food, and all drunk of the same spiritual drink ; for they drank of that
spiritual IJock which followed them, and that Rock was Christ.' In this
latter part of the description, it has been alleged (latterly by De \Vette,
Ruckert, Meyer) that the apostle adopts the Jewish legends respecting the
rock at Horeb haying actually followed the Israelites in their wanderings,
and puts a feigned allegorical construction on the other parts to suit his
purpose. The passage will naturally present itself for explanation when
we come to the period in Israel's history to which it refers.1 At present it
is enough to say that we have merely to take the apostle's statements in
their proper connection, and make due allowance for the figurative use of
language. He is representing the position of the Israelites in the desert as
substantially one with that of the Corinthians. And, to make it more
manifest, he even applies the terms fitted to express the condition of the
Corinthians to the case of the Israelites : — These, says he, were baptized
like you, had Christ among them like you, and like you were privileged to
eat and drink as guests in the Lord's house. Of course, language trans-
ferred thus from one part of God's dispensations to auother, could never
be meant to be taken very strictly ; no more could it be so, when the new
things of the Christian dispensation were applied to the Israelites, than
when the old things of the Jewish are applied to the members of the Chris-
Church. In this latter mode of application the Christian Church is
Spoken of as having a temple as Israel had, an altar, a passover-lamb and

t, a sprinkling with blood, a circumcision. Yet every one knows that
what is meant by such language is. not that the very things themselves,
the things in their outward form and appearance, but that the inward
realities signified by them belong to the Church of Christ, The old name
is retained, though actually denoting something higher and better. And
we must interpret in the same way when the transference Is made in the
order— when the new things of the Christian Church are ascribed
t • the ancient Israelites. By the cloud passing over and resting between
them and the Egyptians, and afterwards by their passing under its protec-
tion through the Bed Sea in safety, they were baptized into Moses; for
thus the line of demarcation was drawn between their old vassalage and
to and prospects on which, under Moses, they had entered ; and
Chrisl Himself, whose servant Moses was. was present with them, feeding
them as from His own hands with direct supplies of neat and drink, till
they reached the promised inheritance. In short, these were to them

relatively what Christian baptism and the Lord's Sapper .-ire to believers

1 Bee vol ii. ch. i § l
\ OL. I. 2 E

4?A THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

now. But not in themselves formally the same. Christ was there only in
a mystery; gospel ordinances were possessed only under the shadow of
means and provisions, adapted immediately to their bodily wants and
temporal condition. Yet still Christ and the gospel were there ; for all
that was then given and done linked itself by a spiritual bond with the
better things to come, and as in a glass darkly reflected the benefits of
redemption. So that, as the Israelites in the desert stood relatively in the
same position with the professing Church under the gospel, the language
here used by the apostle merely shows how clearly he perceived the points
of resemblance, and how profoundly he looked into the connection between
them.

II. — PROPHECIES REFERRED TO BY CHRIST.

We no sooner open the evangelical narratives of New Testament Scrip-
ture, than we meet with references and appeals to the prophecies of the Old.
The leading personages and transactions of gospel times are constantly
presented to our view as those that had been foreseen and described by
ancient seers ; and at every important turn in the evolution of affairs, we
find particular passages of prophecy quoted as receiving their fulfilment in
what was taking place. But we soon perceive that the connection between
the predictions referred to and their alleged fulfilment is by no means uni-
formly of the same kind. It appears sometimes more natural and obvious
in its nature, and sometimes more mystical and recondite. The latter, of
course, in an inquiry like the present, are such as more especially call for
consideration and remark ; but the others are not on that account to be
passed over in silence : for they are so far at least of importance, that they
show what class of predictions, in the estimation of -our Lord and His
apostles, most obviously point to the affairs of the Messiah's kingdom, and
afford also an opportunity of marking how the transition began to be made
to a further and freer application of Old Testament prophecy.

In this line of inquiry, however, it will not do to take up the references
to the prophets precisely as they occur in the Gospels ; for the Evangelists
did not write their narratives of our Lord's personal history till a consider-
able time after the events that compose it had taken place — not till the
deeper as well as the more obvious things connected with it had become
known to them ; and not a few of the prophetical references found in their
narratives were only understood by themselves at a period much later than
that at which the events occurred. It is in Christ's own teaching, com-
municated as the events were actually in progress, that we may expect to
find the most simple and direct applications of prophecy, and the key to
the entire use of it subsequently made by His apostles. For the present,
therefore, we shall throw ourselves back upon the transactions of the
gospel age, and with our eye upon Him who was at once the centre and
the prime agent of the whole, we shall note the manner in which He reads
to those around Him the prophecies that bore on Himself and His times.
We shall take them, not in the historical order they occupy in the narra-

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW.

tives of the Evangelists, but in the antecedent order which belonged to
them, as quoted in the public ministry of Christ. We shall thus Bee how
He led those around Him, step by Btep, to a right understanding of the
prophecies in th.ir evangelical import.

Not far from the commencement of our Lord's public ministry, and <>n

the occasion, as it would serin, <>f His first public appearance in the syna-

true of Nazareth, He opened the book of the prophet Isaiah that had

11 put into His hands, and read from chap. lxi. the following words:
'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor: He hath sent me to heal the broken-
hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to
the blind, to Be( at liberty them that are bruised ; to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. And He closed the book,' it is added by the Evangelist,
'and began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your
ears.' The passai/e thus quoted, and so emphatically applied by Jesus to
Himself, is one of those in the later portion of Isaiah's writings (compre-
hending also chaps, xlii.. xlix., liii.) which evidently treat of one grand
theme — 'the Lord's servant,' His 'elect' one, Him 'in whom His soul
delighted;' unfolding what this wonderful and mysterious personage was
to be, to do, and to suffer for the redemption of the Lord's people, and the
vindication of His cause in the earth. It is matter of certainty that, in the
judgment of the ancient Jewish Church, the person spoken of in all these
passages was the Messiah ; 1 so that, in applying to Himself that particular
passage in Isaiah, Jesus not only advanced the claim, but He must have
been perfectly understood by those present to advance the claim, to be the
Messiah of the Jewish prophets. The modern Jews, and a considerable
number also of Christian expositors (chiefly on the Continent), have endea-
voured to prove that the immediate and proper reference in this and the
Other | in Isaiah connected with it, is to the Jewish nation as a

whole, or to the prophetical class in particular. But these attempts have

ally failed. It stands fast, as the result of the most careful and
Searching criticism, that the words of the prophet can only be understood
of a single individual, in whom far higher than human powers were to
develop them-' Ives, and who was to do, as Well for Israel as for the world
at large, what [grael bad been found utterly incompetent, even in the
lighter departments of the work, to accomplish. In a word, they can be
understood only of the promised Messiah. And of all that had been spoken
concerning Him by the prophet Isaiah, there is not a passage to be1 found
that could more fitly have been appropriated by Jesus than the one He
read at that opening stage of His career, as it describes Him in respect to
the whole reach and compass of His divine commission, with all its restora-
energies and beneficent results. We >'■<■ as well the wisdom of the

selection as the justness of the application. It is also to be noted, that

1 Bee Lightfoot, ffor. Heb. en Matt xii. 20 and John v. 19; BehHttgen <!<■ Memo,
pp. 118, 192; Beogstenberg's Chrisiotogg oa lea. xlii. l-'J, xlix., liii. 2. Also Alex-
ander uu the fam. . and lxi.

43 G THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the appropriation by our Lord of the passage in this sixty-first chapter of
Isaiah, gives the virtual sanction of His authority to the applications
elsewhere made of other passages in the same prophetical discourse to
gospel times — such as Matt. xii. 18-21 ; Acts viii. 32-35, xiii. 47 ; Rom.
x. 21 ; 1 Pet. ii. 23-25, where portions of Isa. xlii., xlix., liii., are so
applied.

The next open and public appeal made by our Lord to an ancient pro-
phecy, was made with immediate respect to John the Baptist. It was
probably about the middle of Christ's ministry, and shortly before the
death of John. Taking occasion from John's message to speak of the dis-
tinguished place he held among God's servants, the Lord said, ' This is he
of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before Thy face, and
he shall prepare Thy way before Thee.' The words are taken from the
beginning of the third chapter of Malachi, with no other difference than
that He who there sends is also the one before whom the way was to be
prepared : ' He shall prepare the way before me.' The reason of this
variation will be noticed presently. But in regard to John, that he was
the person specially intended by the prophet as the herald-messenger of
the Lord, can admit of no doubt on the part of any one who sincerely
believes that Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, and personally taber-
nacling among men. John himself does not appear to have formally appro-
priated this passage in Malachi ; but he virtually did so when he described
himself in the words of a passage in Isaiah, ' I am the voice of one crying
in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord ; ' for the passage in
Malachi is merely a resumption, with a few additional characteristics, of
that more ancient one in Isaiah. And on this account they are both thrown
together at the commencement of St. Mark's Gospel, as if they formed
indeed but one prediction : ' As it is written in the prophets (the better
copies even read, ' by Isaiah the prophet'), Behold, I send my messenger
before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee. The voice of
one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His
paths straight.' And there is still another prediction — one at the very
close of Malachi — which is but a new, and in some respects more specific,
announcement of what was already uttered in these earlier prophecies.
In this last prediction the preparatory messenger is expressly called by the
name of Elias the prophet ; and the work he had to do ' before the coming
of the Lord,' is described as that of turning ' the heart of the fathers (or
making it return) to the children, and the heart of the children to their
fathers.' As this was the last word of the Old Testament, so it is in a
manner the first word of the New ; for the prophecy was taken up by the
angel, who announced to Zacharias the birth of John, and at once applied
and explained by him in connection with the mission of John. ' Many of
the children of Israel,' said the angel, ' shall he turn to the Lord their
God ; and he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn
the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom
of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.' — (Luke i.
16, 17.) Here the coming of the Lord, as in all the passages under con-

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 437

Bideration, was the grand terminating point of the prophecy, and, as pre-
paratory to this, the making ready of a people for it. This making ready
of the people, 01 turning them hack again (with reference to the words of
Elijah in 1 Kings xviii. 87) to the Lord their Cud, is twice mentioned by
the augel ae Che obji ct of John's mission. And, between the two, there is
given what is properly but another view of the Bame thing, only with
express reference to the Elijah-like character of the work : John was to go
before the Lord as a new Klias, in the spirit and power of that great pro-
phet, and fur the purpose of effecting a reconciliation between the degene-
I of [Brae! and their pious forefathers — making them again of one
heart and soul, so that the fathers might not be ashamed of their chil-
dren, DOT the children of their fathers; in a word, that he might effect a
real reformation, by turning 'the disobedient (offspring) to the wisdom of
the just (ancestors).' Thus in all these passages — to which we may also
add the private testimony of our Lord to the disciples as to Elias having
indeed come (Mark ix. 13) — there is a direct application of the Old Testa-
ment prophecy, in a series of closely-related predictions, to the person and
mission of John the Baptist. And so far from any violence or constraint
appearing in this application, the predictions are all taken in their most
natural and obvious meaning. For that the literal Elias was no more to
! ■ expected from the last of these predictions, than the literal David from
]'./. k. xxxiv. 28, seems plain enough : the person meant could only be one
c miing in the spirit of Elias, and commissioned to do substantially his
work. So also Jezebel and Balaam are spoken of as reviving in the
t icliers of false doctrine and the ringleaders of corruption who appeared
in some of the churches of Asia (Rev. ii. 1 1, '20).

But we must pass on to another instance of fulfilled prophecy. It will
be observed, that in all those passages out of Isaiah and Malachi applied to
John the Baptist, there was involved an application also to Christ Himself,
as being the person whose way John was sent to prepare. The assertion,
that John was the herald-messenger foretold in them, clearly implied that
.1 us of Xa/.areth was the Lord wdio was to come to His people, or ' the
Angel of the Covenant that was to come suddenly to His temple.' He,
therefore, was the Lord of the temple, or the divine head and proprietor
of the covenant people whom that temple symbolized, and in the midst of
whom He appealed as God manifest in the flesh. But this the I/onl merely
left to be inferred from what He said of John ; He even seems to have pur-
ely drawn a sort of veil over it, by the slight change He introduced into
the won!- of Malachi, Baying, not 'before me,' but 'before Thy face.1
For He well knew that those to whom He spake could not hear in this
n iped the plain announcement of the truth, — indeed, least of all here ; they
could not even hear to hear Jesus call Himself by the milder epithet of the
S 'ii of Cod. Sometime, however, if not at present, the Lord must give
them to know, that in this rooted antipathy to the essentially divine cha-
rter of Messiah, they had their own Scriptures against them. And so, in
the next public appeal He made to the prophetic,] Scriptures, He selected
this point in particular for proof. But that the appeal might come with

438 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

more power to their consciences, he threw it into the form, not of an asser-
tion, but of an interrogation. He put it to themselves, ' What think ye of
Christ? whose Son is He? They say unto Him, The son of David. He
saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, The
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on my right hand, till I make Thine
enemies Thy footstool ? If David then call Him Lord, how is He his Son ? "
— (Matt. xxii. 42-45.) The familiar allusion here, and in other passages of
the New Testament, to this psalm, as descriptive of the Messiah, clearly
evinces what was the view taken of it by the ancient Jewish Rabbis. Such
an argumentative use of it could only have been made on the ground that
it was held by general consent to be a prophecy of Christ. Efforts have
again and again been made in modern times to controvert this view, but
without any measure of success. And, indeed, apart altogether from the
explicit testimony of our Lord and His apostles, looking merely to what is
said of the hero of this psalm, — that He stood to David himself in the rela-
tion of Lord ; that He was to sit on Jehovah's right hand, that is, should be
invested with the power and sovereignty of God ; that He should, like
Melchizedek, be a priest on the throne, and that for ever, — it is impossible
to take these parts of the description in their natural meaning, and under-
stand them of any one but the Messiah, — a Messiah, too, combining in His
mysterious person properties at once human and divine. The silence of
our Lord's adversaries then, and the fruitless labours of His detractors since,
are confirmatory testimonies to the soundness of this application of the
psalm as the only tenable one.

Another purpose — one immediately connected with His humiliation — led
our Lord, very shortly after the occasion last referred to, to point to another
prophecy as presently going to meet with its fulfilment. It was when, fresh
from the celebration of the paschal feast and His own supper, He had re-
tired with His disciples, under the shade of night, to the Mount of Olives :
' Then said Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this
night : for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the
flock shall be scattered abroad.' — (Matt. xxvi. 31.) So it had been written
in Zech. xiii. 7, respecting that peculiar Shepherd and His flock, who
was to be Jehovah's fellow, or rather His near relation — for so the word in
the original imports ; and hence, when spoken of any one's relation to God,
it cannot possibly denote a mere man, but can only be understood of one
who, by virtue of His divine nature, stands on a footing of essential
equality with God. All other interpretations, whether by Jews or Chris-
tians, can only be regarded as shifts, devised to explain away or get rid of
the plain meaning of the prophecy. And it was here more especially chosen
by our Lord, as, more distinctly and emphatically perhaps than any other
prediction in Old Testament Scripture, it combined with the peerless dignity
of Christ's nature the fearful deptli of His humiliation and suffering ; and
so was at once fitted to instruct and comfort the disciples in respect to the
season of tribulation that was before them. It told them, indeed, that the
suffering was inevitable; but at the same time imparted the consolation,
that so exalted a sufferer could only suffer for a time. But though this was

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 439

tlie only prophetical passage particularly noticed, as having been explained
by Christ with reference to His Bufferings, we are expressly informed that,
after Hia resurrection at Least, He made a similar application of many others.
He reproved the two disciples on their way to Emmausfor their dulness and
incredulity, because they had not learned from the prophets how Christ
must suffer before entering into His glory: 'And beginning at Moses and
all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things
concerning Himself.' Indeed, it would appear that, even before His death,
He bad Deferred to various scriptures bearing on this point; for, at Luke
xxiv. H, we find Him saying to the disciples in a body: ' These are the
words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things
must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Muses, and in the Pro-
phets, and in the Psalms, concerning me.' But as what had been spoken
previously had been spoken to little purpose, He then ' opened their under-
standings, that they might understand the Scriptures;' and said unto
them, ' Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise
from the dead on the third day,' etc.

Mot are we left altogether without the means of knowing what portions
of Old Testament Scripture our Lord thus applied to Himself. The apostles
undoubtedly proceeded to act upon the instruction they had received, and
to make use of the light that had been imparted to them. And when, on
opening the Acts of the Apostles, we find Peter, in chap, i., applying with-
out hesitation or reserve what is written in Ps. cix. to the persecutions of
Jesus and the apostasy of Judas: again, in chap, ii., applying in like man-
ner what is written in Ps. xvi. to Christ's speedy resurrection ; Ps. ex., to
His exaltation to power and glory; and Joel ii. 28-32, to the gift of tie-
Spirit ; in chap. iiL, affirming Jesus to be the prophet that Hoses had fore-
told should be raised up like to himself ■ in chap, iv., speaking of Jesus as
the stone rejected by the builders, but raised by God to the head of tin-
corner, as written in Ps. exviii. (an application that had already been in-
dicated at least by Christ in a public discourse with the Jews. Matt. xxi.
42) ; and, along with the other apostles, describing Christ as the anointed
king in Pa. ii., against whom the heathen raged, and the people imagined
vain things; — when we read all this, it is scarcely possible to doubt that we
have in it the fruit of that more special instruction which our Lord gave to
His disciples, when He opened their understanding that they might under-
stand the Scriptures. It is Christ's own teaching made known to OS
through the report of those who had received it from His lips. And any
interpretation of those passages of Old Testament Scripture which would
deny their fair and Legitimate application to Christ and the things of His
kinj hiu, must be regarded as a virtual reflection on the wisdom and
authority of Christ Himself.

Bui it dues not follow from this, that Christ and gospel events must in
all of them have been exclusively intended; it may he enough if in some
they were more peculiarly Included. More could scarcely be meant, espe-
cially in respect to Ps. cix. and exviii., in both of which the language is such
as to comprehend classes of persons, and whole series of events. That the

440 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

proper culmination of what is written should be found in Christ and the
gospel dispensation, is all that could justly be expected. But of this it will
be necessary to speak more fully, as it touches on a more profound and
hidden application of Old Testament things to those of the New. There
were other parts also of our Lord's personal teaching which still more
strikingly bore on such an application, but which, from their enigmatical
character, we have purposely omitted referring to in this section. Mean-
while, in those more obvious and direct references which have chiefly passed
under our review, what a body of well-selected proof has our Lord given
from the prophecies of the Old Testament, to the truth of His own Messiah-
ship ! And how clear and penetrating an insight did He exhibit into the
meaning of those prophecies, compared with what then prevailed among
His countrymen !

III. — THE DEEPER PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN CHRIST'S USE OF THE OLD

TESTAMENT.'

"We have seen that nearly all the prophecies of Old Testament Scripture,
which our Lord applied to Himself and the affairs of His kingdom, during
the period of His earthly ministry, were such as admitted of being so applied
in their most direct and obvious sense. In nothing else could they have
found a proper and adequate fulfilment. This can scarcely, however, be
said of the whole of them. When His ministry was drawing to a close, He
on one occasion publicly, and on several occasions with the disciples privately,
made application to Himself and the things of His kingdom, of prophecies
which could not be said to bear immediate and exclusive respect to New
Testament times. And we have now to examine these later sfnd more
peculiar applications of prophetical Scripture, in order to perceive the
deeper principles of connection between the Old and the New, involved in
our Lord's occasional use of the word of prophecy.

The public occasion we have referred to was when, a few days before His
death, Christ solemnly pointed the attention of the Jews to a passage in
Ps. cxviii. 'Did ye never read,' He asked (Matt. xxi. 42), ' in the Scrip-
tures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of
the corner : this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes ? '
Though Jesus did not say in respect to this psalm, as He said shortly after
in respect to the 110th, that in inditing it the Psalmist spake through the
Spirit of Christ ; yet both the question itself He put regarding the passage,
and the personal application He presently afterwards made of it, clearly
implied that He considered Himself and the Jewish authorities of His time
to be distinctly embraced in the Psalmist's announcement. And the same
opinion was still more explicitly avowed by the Apostle Peter, after he had
been instructed more fully by Christ respecting the Old Testament Scrip-
tures, when, standing before the Jewish council, He exclaimed, 'This is
the stone which was set at nought by you builders, which is become the
head of the corner' (Acts iv. 11).

l7et when we turn to the psalm itself, the passage thus quoted and
applied to Christ, in His relation to the Jewish rulers, has the appearance

THE OLD TESTAMENT IX THE SEW. 441

rather of a statement then actually verified in the history and experience of
the covenant people, than of a prediction still waiting to be fulfilled. The
psalm throughout carries the aspect of a national song, in which priesta
and people joined together to celebrate the praise of God, on some memor-
able occasion when they saw enlargement and prosperity return after a
period of depression and contempt. It was peculiarly an occasion of this
kind, when the little remnant that escaped from Babylon, amid singular
tokens of divine favour, found themselves in a condition to set about the
•ration-of God's house and kingdom in Jerusalem. Indeed, Ezra iii. 11

ma not doubtfully to indicate that the psalm owes its origin to that
happy occasion, as we are there told, that when they met to lay anew the
foundation of the temple, the assembled multitude began to praise the Lord
in roch .-drains as occur at the commencement of this psalm. There could
not be a more seasonable momenl for the joyous burst of thanksgiving
which the people seem in the psalm, as with one heart and soul, to pour
forth to God, on account of His distinguishing goodness in having rescued
them from the deadly grasp of their heathen adversaries, and for the elevat-
ing and assured hope they express of the final and complete ascendency of
His kingdom. Of this, the eye of faith was presented with an encouraging
pledge in current events. By a remarkable turn in God's providence, the
apparently dead had become alive again; the stone rejected by the mighty
builders of this world as worthless and contemptible, was marvellously
I to the head of the corner; and, in connection with it, a commence-
ment was made, however feebly, toward the universal triumph of the truth
of God over the corruption and idolatry of the world. But such being the
natural and direct purport of the psalm, how could the sentiment uttered
in it concerning the Btone be so unconditionally applied to Christ? The
right answer to this question presupposes the existence of a peculiarly close
relation between the commonwealth of Israel and Christ, and such a rela-
tion as can only be understood aright when we have first correctly appre-
hended I hi' real calling and destiny of Israel.

Now, this was declared at the outset by anticipation to Abraham, when
the I. ord said concerning His teed, that it should be blessed and made a
Messing — made so peculiarly the channel of blessing, that in it all the
families of the earth were to be blessed. To fulfil this high destination,
was the calling of Israel as an elect people. Viewed, therefore, according
to their calling, they wire thi' children of God, Jehovah's first-born (Deut.
xiv. 1 ; Bxod. iv. 22) ; Jehovah was the father that begot them — that is,
d tie m into the condition of a people possessing a kind of filial rela-
tionship to Himself (Deut. xxxii. f>, 18; Jar. xxxi. 9), but possessing it
only in bo far as they were a spiritual and holy people, abiding near to
God, and fitted for executing His righteous purposes — for so far only did
their actual state correspond with their destination. — (Exod. xix. 5, 6;
Deut. xiv. 2; Pa kxiii. 15.) For the most part, this correspondence

palpably failed. God was trie to His engagements, but not Israel to theirs.
He gave freely to them of His goodness — gave often when He might have
withheld; but their history is replete with backslidings and apostasies,

442 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

shame and reproach. Even within the limits of Canaan, the real children
of God — the seed of blessing — were usually in a grievous minority ; they
were, for the most part, the comparatively poor, the afflicted, the needy,
amid multitudes of an opposite spirit — the internal heathen, who differed
only in name and outward position from the heathen abroad. But tliis
very imperfection in the reality, as compared with the idea, was here, as in
other things, made to contribute toward the great end in contemplation.
For it was this especially that showed the necessity of something higher
and better to accomplish what was in prospect. So long as God stood
related to them merely as He did or had done to their fathers, believers in
Israel felt that they had to wage an unequal conflict, in which fearful odds
were generally against them, even on Israelitish ground. And how could
they expect to attain to a righteousness and acquire a position that should
enable them to bless the whole world ? For this, manifestly, there was
needed another and still closer union than yet existed between Israel and
God, — a union that should somehow interpenetrate their condition with the
very power and sufficiency of Godhead. Only if the relation between earth
and heaven could be made to assume a more vital and organic form — only
if the divine and human, the Angel of the Covenant and the seed of Abra-'
ham, Jehovah and Israel, could become truly and personally one — only
then could it seem possible to raise the interest of righteousness in Israel
to such an elevation as should bring the lofty destination of Abraham's
seed to bless the world within the bounds of probability. It was one
leading object of prophecy to give to such thoughts and anticipations a
definite shape, and convert what might otherwise have been but the vague
surmises or uncertain conjectures of nature into a distinct article of faith.
Especially does this object come prominently out in the latter portion of
Isaiah's writings, where, in a lengthened and varied discourse concerning
the calling and destiny of Israel, we find the Lord perpetually turning from
Israel in one sense to Israel in another ; from an Israel full of imperfection,
false, backsliding, feeble, and perverse (for example, in ch. xlii. 19, xliii.
22, xlviii. 4, lviii., lix.), to an Israel full of excellence and might, the
beloved of Jehovah, the very impersonation of divine life and goodness, in
whom all righteousness should be fulfilled, and salvation for ever made sure
to a numerous and blessed offspring. — (Ch. xlii. 1-7, xlix., Hi. 13-15, liii.,
lv., lxi. 1-3.) So that what Israel, as a whole, had completely failed to
realize, — what, even in the spiritual portion of Israel, had been realized in
a very partial and inadequate manner, — that, the prophet gave it to be
understood, was one day to be accomplished without either failure or
imperfection. But let it be marked well how it was to be accomplished ; —
simply by there being raised up in Israel One who should link together
in His mysterious person the properties of the seed of Abraham and the
perfections of Jehovah ; in whom, by the singular providence of God,
should meet on the one side, all that distinctively belonged to Israel of
calling and privilege, and all, on the other, that was needed of divine
power and sufficiency to make good the determinate counsel of Heaven to
bless all the families of the earth.

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 4 13

But this is still only one, and what may be called the more general,
aspect of the matter. Within the circle of the chosen seed, a special
arrangement was from the first contemplated (Gen. xlix. 8-1"). and came
at last to be actually made, which was rendered yet more remarkably
subservient to the design of at once nourishing the expectation of a
riah, and exhibiting the difference, the antagonism even, that should
exist between Him and the fleshly Israel. We refer to the appointment
of a royal house, in which Israel's peculiar calling to bless the world was
to rise to its highesi . and by which it was more especially to reach

its fulfilment. To render more clearly manifest Cod's real purpose in this
respect. He allowed a false movement to he made, in the first instance,
concerning it, which, as the fruit merely of human solicitation and device,
came to a disastrous end.1 Therefore the Lord stepped in to ex( rcise // s
choice iii the matter, and found David, who, by special training and gifts,
was prepared to wield the kingdom for the Lord. So thoroughly did he
r into the Lord's mind in the matter, and act as the Lord's servant,
that the kingdom was made to stand in him as its living root, and the
right to administer a kingdom of blessing in the earth was connected
in perpetuity with his line. — (2 Sam. vii.) But here, again, the same
kind of results presently began to discover themselves as in the form, r
case. It was with the utmost difficulty at first, and never more than in
the most imperfect manner, that David himself, or any of his successors,
could succeed in establishing righteousness and dispensing blessing even
among the families of Israel. The kingdom, too, with all its imper-
fections, lasted but for a brief period, and then fell into hopeless con-
fusion. So that if the divine purpose in this matter was ready to stand ;
if there was to be a kingdom of truly divine character, administered by
the house of David, and encompassing the whole earth with its verdant and
fruitful boughs (Ezek. xvii. 22-24 ; Dan. vii. 18, 14); it was manifest th.n
some other link of connection must be formed, than any that still existed,
between the divine source and the earthly possessor of the sovereignty, — a
connection not merely of delegated authority, but of personal contact and
efficient working ; on the one side humanizing the Deity, and on the other

deifying humanity. For not otherwise than through such intermingling
of the divine and human could the necessary power be constituted for
establishing and directing such a kingdom throughout the nations of the
earth.

Now, th red rise in the kingdom founded in David, and its culmi-

nation in a divine-human Head, is also the theme of many prophet
David himself took the had in announcing it; for he already foresaw,

through the Spirit, what in this respect would lie required to verify the
wonderful promise made to him. — (2 .Sam. vii. : Ps. ii., xlv., lxxii.. ex. • also
I i. vii. 14, ix. C, etc.) But as David was himself the root of this new
order of things, ami the whole was to take the form of a verification of the
word spoken to him, or of the perfectionment of the germ that was planted
in him, so in his personal history there was given a compendious represcnta-

i Bee at p. lit.

444 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

tion of the nature and prospects of the kingdom. In the first brief stage
was exhibited the embryo of what it should ultimately become. Thus, the
absoluteness of the divine choice in appointing the king ; his seeming want,
but real possession, of the qualities required for administering the affairs of
the kingdom ; the growth from small, because necessarily spiritual, begin-
nings of the interests belonging to it — still growing, however, in the face of
an inveterate and ungodly opposition, until judgment was brovight forth unto
victory ; — these leading elements in the history of the first possessor of the
kingdom must appear again — they must have their counterpart in Him on
whom the prerogatives and blessings of the kingdom were finally to settle.
There was a real necessity in the case, such as always exists where the end
is but the development and perfection of the beginning ; and we may not
hesitate to say, that if they had failed in Christ, He could not have been
the anointed King of David's line, in whom the purpose of God to govern
and bless the world in righteousness was destined to stand. Here, again,
we have another and lengthened series of predictions, connecting in this
respect the past with the future, the beginning with the ending (for
example, Ps. xvi., xxii., xl., lxix., cix. ; Isa. liii. ; Zech. ix. 9, xii. 10,
xiii. 1-7).

Such, then, is the close and organic connection in two important re-
spects between God's purpose concerning Israel and His purpose in Christ.
And if we only keep this distinctly in view, we shall have no difficulty in
perceiving that a valid and satisfactory ground existed for the application
of Ps. cxviii. 22 to Christ, and many applications of a similar kind made
both by Him and by the apostles. In the psalm now mentioned, the
calling and destination of Israel to be blessed and to bless mankind, not-
withstanding that they were in themselves so small in number, and had to
hold their ground against all the might and power of the world — this is
the theme which is chiefly unfolded there, and it is unfolded in connection
with the singular manifestation of divine power and goodness, which had
even then given such a striking token of the full accomplishment of the
design. But this accomplishment, as we have seen, could only be found
in Christ, in whom was to meet what distinctively belonged to Israel on
the one side, and, on the other, what exclusively belongs to God. In Him,
therefore, the grand theme of the psalm must embody itself, and through
Him reach its complete realization. He pre-eminently and peculiarly is
the stone, rejected in the first instance by the carnalism of the world, as
presented in the Jewish rulers, but at length raised by God, on account of
its spiritual and divine qualities, to be the head of the corner. And all
that formerly occurred of a like nature in the history of Israel was but the
germ of what must again, and in a far higher manner, be developed in the
work and kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The same thing, with no material difference, holds of an entire class of
passages in the Psalms, only in most of them respect is chiefly had to the
covenant made with the house of David, rather than to the more general
calling and destination of Israel. Such, for example, are the two closely
related psalms, lxix. and cix., parts of which were first privately applied by

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 445

Christ, ami afterwards more publicly by Peter, to the case of Judas (.lolm
xv. 26 ; Acts i. 20 : comp. with Pa. lxix. 1. 25, cix, 3, 8) ; but to him only,
as the wont embodiment and most palpable representative of the malice
and opposition of which the Messiah was the object: for such Judas was
in reality, and such also is the kind of enmity described in these psalms —
an enmity that had many abettors, though concentrating itself in one or
more individuals. Hence St. Paul applies the description to the Jews
generally (Horn. xi. '.>, 10). Other passages in the same two psalms are
applied bjj the Evangelists and apostles to Chri.-t (Matt xxvii. 84, 48;
John ii. 17 ; Rom. xv. 8). And to these psalms we may add, as belonging
to the same class, Pa xli., a verse of which — ' He that did eat of my br
lifted up his heel against me' — is pointed to by our Lord as finding its ful-
filment in the treachery of Judas (John xiii. L8) ; Pa xxii., of which several
m in ilar appropriations are made concerning Christ (Matt, xxvii. 46; John
xiv. L'4, etc.) ; and Ps. xl., which contains the passage regarding the insuf-
ficiency of animal sacrifices, and the necessity of a sublime act of self-
devotion, quite unconditionally applied to Christ in Heb. x. 4-10. The
references to these psalm-, it will be observed, were made either by Christ,
near the close of His ministry, when seeking to give the disciples a deeper
insight into the bearing of Old Testament Scripture on gospel times, or by
the Evangelists and apostles after His work on earth was finished, and all
had become plain to them. The psalms themselves are so far alike, that
they are all the productions of David, and productions in which he, as the
founder and root of the kingdom, endeavoured, through the Spirit, out of
the lines of his own eventful history, to throw a prospective light on the
more important and momentous future. That his eye was chiefly upon
this future is evident, as wed from the extremity of the sufferings de-
scribed, which greatly exceeded what David personally underwent (Pa
xxii. 8, 14-18, lxix. 8, 21, cix. 24, 25), as from the world-wide results, the
and universal benefits that are spoken of as flowing from the
salvation wrought, far beyond anything that David could have contem-
plate! respecting himself (Pa xxii. l'7, xl. 5, 10, 16, xli. 12, lxix. 85).
J5ut still, while the future is mainly regarded, it is seen by tin- Psalmisl
Under the form and lineaments of the pasl ; his own sufferings and deliver-
anc< - w< re like the book from which he read forth the similar but greater
tilings to come. And why should not David, who so clearly foresaw the

brighter, have foreseen also the darker and more troubled aspect of the
future? If it was given him through the Spirit to descry, as the proper
heir and possessor of the kingdom, One so much higher in nature and dig-
nity than himself, that he felt it right to call him Lord and i rod ( Pa xlv.,
>. why should it not also have been given him to see that this glorious
per . as hit son, should bear his father's image alike in the more

afflicting and troubled, and in the better and imnv -bucus part of Lis
career? This is simply what David did see, and what he expressed with
great fulness and variety in the portion of big writings now under considera-
tion. And hence their peculiar form and structure, as partaking 80 much

of tic personal. When unfolding the mire divine aspect and relations of

446 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the kingdom, the Psalmist speaks of the possessor of it as of another than
himself, nearly related to him, but still different — higher and greater
(Ps. ii., xlv., lxxii., ex.). But when he discourses, in the psalms above
referred to, concerning its more human aspect and relations, he speaks as
of himself : the sufferings to be borne and overcome seemed like a pro-
longation, or rather like a renewal in an intenser form, of his own ; the
father, in a manner, identifies himself with the son, as the son again, in
alluding to what was written, identifies himself with the father ; for so it
behoved to be — the past must here foreshadow the future, and the future
take its shape from the past.

The view now given of this series of psalms, it will be observed, differs
materially, not only from that which regards them as properly applicable
only to David, and merely accommodated to Christ and gospel things, but
also from that of Hengstenberg and others, according to which the psalms
in question describe the suffering righteous person in general, and apply to
Christ only in so far as He was pre-eminently a righteous sufferer. We
hold them to be, in a much closer sense, prophecies of Christ, and regard
them as delineations of what, in its full sense, could only be expected to
take place in Him who was to fulfil the calling and destination, of which
the mere foreshadow and announcement was to be seen in David. And
this connection between David and Christ, on which the delineation pro-
ceeds, seems to us satisfactorily to account for two peculiarities in the
structure of these psalms, which have always been the occasion of embar-
rassment. The first is the one already noticed — their being written as in
the person of the Psalmist. This arose from his being led by the Spirit
to contemplate the coming future as the continuation and only adequate
completion of what pertained to himself — to descry the Messiah as the
second and higher David. The other peculiarity is the mention that is
made in some of these psalms of sin as belonging to the person who speaks
in them ; as in Ps. xl., for example, where he confesses his sins to be more
in number than the hairs of his head — and that, too, presently after he had
declared it to be his purpose and delight to do the will of God in a way
more acceptable than all sacrifice. — This has been deemed inexplicable, on
the supposition of Christ being the speaker. And if Christ alone, directly
and exclusively, had been contemplated, we think it would have been in-
explicable. His connection with sin would not have been represented
exactly in that form. But let the ground of the representation be what
we have described ; let it be understood that David wrote of the Messiah
as the Son, who, however higher and greater than himself, was still to be
a kind of second self, then the description must have taken its form from
the history and position of David, and should be read as from that point
of view. If it is true in some respects that ' things take the signature of
thought' {Coleridge), here the reverse necessarily happened — the thought,
imaging to itself the future as the reflection and final development of the
past, naturally took the signature of things ; and sin, with which the second
as well as the first David had much to do in establishing the kingdom,
must be confessed as from the bosom of the royal Psalmist. It is merely

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 447

;i | art of the relatively imperfect native of all the representations of Christ's
work and kingdom, which were unfolded under the image and shadow of
past and inferior, hut closely related circumstances. And this imperfection
in the form was the more necessary in psalms, since, being destined fur
public use in the worship of God, they could only express such views and
feelings as the congregation might be expected to sympathize with, and
must, even when carrying forward the desires and expectations of the soul
to better things to come, touch a chord in every believer's bosom.

There ia however, another and more peculiar — indeed, the most peculiar
— application made hy our Lord of the Old Testament Scriptures ; but an
application proceeding on a quite similar, though more specific, connection
between the past and the future in Cod's kingdom. We refer to what our
Lord said after the transfiguration respecting John the Baptist. Before
this, He had even publicly asserted John to be the Elias predicted by
Mtlachi : ' And if ye will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come !
He that hath cars to hear, let him hear' (Matt. xi. 14, 15). It was a
profound truth, our Lord would have them to know, which He was now
delivering— one thai did not lie upon the surface, and could only be receive I
by spiritual and divinely-enlightened souls. This much is implied in the
words, • It ye will receive it,1 — if ye have spiritual discernment BO far as to
know the mind of Cod ; and still more by the call that follows, 'He that
hath ears to hear, let him ear,' — a call which is never uttered but when
something enigmatical, or difficult to the natural mind, requires to be un-
derstood. The disciples themselves, however, still wanted the capacity for
understanding what was said, as they betrayed, when putting the question
to Christ after the transfiguration, ' Why, then, do the scribes say that
Elias must first come?1 This led our Lord again to assert what He had
done 1„ fore, and also to give some explanation of the matter: 'And He
answered and said unto them, Klias verily cometh first, and restoreth all
tilings . . . Hut I say unto you. That Elias has indeed come, and they
bave done to him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him ' (Mark ix.
12, L8). Here He bo nearly identifies John with Bliss, that what had been

recorded of tie on- He con i n a II ia Oner W 1 it I et) of the other; for

certainly the things that had happened to this second Elias were no other-
wise written of him, than as things of a similar kind were recorded in
the life of the first. The essentia] connection between the two characters
rendered the history of the one. m its main element-', a prophecy of the
Other. If John had to do the work of Klias, he must also enter into the
experience of Klias; coming as emphatically the preacher of repentance,
he mUSl have trial of hatred and persecution from the ongodly; and t It.-

iter be was than Elias in the one respect, it might be expected he should
also be greater in the other. Itmmt, thi refore, bave been merely in re-
gard to his commission from above, that he was said to 'come and restore
all things;1 for here again, as of old, the sins of the people headed at
last by a new aiiab and Jezebel, in Herod and Herodias — cut short the
process ; ' They rejected the counsel of Cod against themselves,' and only
m a very limited degree exj • 1 the benefit which the mi-sion of John

448 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

was in itself designed and fitted to impart. Nor could John have been
the new Elias, unless, amid all outward differences, there had been such
essential agreements as these between his case and that of his great pre-
decessor.

"We have now adverted to all the applications of Old Testament prophecy
which are expressly mentioned by the Evangelists to have been made by our
Lord to Himself and gospel times, with the exception of a mere reference
in Matt. xxiv. 15, to Daniel's ' abomination of desolation,' and the use made
of Isa. vi. 9, 10, as describing the blind and hardened state of the men of
His own generation, not less than of those of Isaiah's. Besides those pas-
sages, however, expressly quoted and applied by our Lord, it is right to
notice, as preparatory to the consideration of what was done in this respect
by Evangelists and apostles, that He not unfrequently appropriated to Him-
self, as peculiarly true of Him, the language and ideas of the Old Testa-
ment ; as when He takes the words descriptive of Jacob's vision, and says
to Nathanael, ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven
open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man ; '
or when He said to the Jews of His own body, ' Destroy this temple, and
in three days I will raise it up ; ' or when He speaks of Himself as going to
be lifted up for the salvation of men, as the serpent was lifted up in the
wilderness, and of the sign of the prophet Jonas going to appear again in
Him. . Such appropriations of Old Testament language and ideas evidently
proceeded on the ground of that close connection between the Old and the
New which we have endeavoured to uufold, as one that admitted of being
carried out to many particulars. If, therefore, we shall find the Evangelists
and apostles so carrying it out, they have the full sanction of Christ's
authority as to the principle of their interpretation. And on the ground
even of Christ's own expositions, we may surely see how necessary it is,
in explaining Scripture, to keep in view the pre-eminent place which Christ
from the first was destined to hold in the divine plan, and how everything
in the earlier arrangements of God tended to Him as the grand centre of
the whole. Let us indeed beware of wresting any passages of the Old
Testament for the purpose of finding Christ where He is not to be found ;
but let us also beware of adopting such imperfect views as would prevent
us from finding Him where He really is. And especially let it ever be
borne in mind, that the union of the divine and the human in Christ, while
in itself the great mystery of godliness, is, at the same time, the grand key
to the interpretation of what else is mysterious in the divine dispensations ;
and that in this stands the common basis of what ancient seers were taught
to anticipate, and wh^t the Church now is in the course of realizing.

IV. — THE APPLICATIONS MADE BY THE EVANGELISTS OF OLD TESTAMENT

PROPHECIES.

It is to be borne carefully in mind, then, that the stream of Old Testa-
ment prophecy respecting the Messiah, in its two great branches, — the one
originating in the calling and destination of Israel, the other in the pur-

THE OLD TESTAMENT IX THE NEW. 449

pose to set up a kingdom of righteousness and blessing fur the world in the
house of David, — flowed in the same direction, and pointed to the saint
great event. The announcements in both lines plainly contemplated and
required a i organic or personal connection between the divine and human
natures as the necessary condition of their fulfilment ; 30 that, if there was
any truth in the pretensions of Jesus of Nazareth — if He was indeed that
cone nti ii. I Israel, and that peerless son of David, in whom the two lines
of prophecy were to meet and be carried out to their destined completion,
the indwelling of the divine in His human nature must have existed as the
one foundation of the whole building. That very truth which the Jews of
our Lord's time could not bear even to be mentioned in their presence, —
the truth of His proper Deity, — was the indispensable preliminary to the
nation of all that was predicted. Hence it is that the four Evangelists,
each in his own peculiar way, but with a common insight into the import
of Old Testament prophecy and the real necessities of the case, all begin
with laying this foundation. St. John opens his narrative with a formal
and lengthened statement of Christ's relation to the Godhead, and broadly
asserts that in Him the Divine Word was made flesh. St. Luke also relates
at length the circumstances of the miraculous conception, and with the
view evidently of conveying the impression, that this mode of being born
into the world stood in essential connection with Christ's being, in the
strictest sense, ' the Son of the Highest.' Even Mark, while observing the
greatest possible brevity, does not omit the essential point, and begins his
narrative with the most startling announcement that ever headed an his-
torical composition : ' The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God* And the first Evangelist, who wrote more immediately for his
Jewish brethren, and continually selects the points that were best fitted to
exhibit Jesus as the Messiah of the Jewish Scriptures, characteristically
rs nil hit narrative by describing the circumstances of Christ's miracu-
lous birth as the necessary fulfilment of one of the most marvellous pro-
phecies of the incarnation: 'Now all this was done, that it might be
fulfilled which was Bpoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a
virgin shall conceive, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His
name Immanuel, which, being interpreted, is, God with us.'

Commentators, it is well known, are not agreed as to the precise manner
in which this prediction should be applied to Christ; and not a few hold

I it is to be understood, in the first instance, of an ordinary child born
after the usual manner in the prophet's own time, and only in a secondary,
though higher and more complete sense, applicable to the Messiah. Their
: for this IS, that they see no other way of understanding how
the- tacts announced in the prophecy could properly have been a sign to
Ahaz and his people, as they were expressly called by the prophet. With-
out entering into the d in of this point, we simply state it as our
conviction, that the difficulty fell arises mainly from a wrong view of what
Lb there meant by brign — as if the prophet intended by it something which
would be a ground of comfort to the wicked king and kingdom of Judah.
On the contrary, the prediction n bly bears the character of a threaten*

YoL. I. 2 P

450 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

ing to these, though with a rich and precious promise enclosed for a future
generation. Between the promise of the child and its fulfilment, there was
to be a period of sweeping desolation ; for the child was to be born in a
land which should yield to him ' butter and honey,' — the spontaneous pro-
ducts of a desolated region, as opposed to one well-peopled and cultivated.
— (Comp. Isa. vii. 15 with ver. 22 ; also Matt. iii. 4, where honey is men-
tioned as a portion of the Baptist's wilderness food.) This state of deso-
lation the prophet describes to the end of the chapter as ready to fall on
the kingdom of Judah, and as inevitably certain, notwithstanding that a-
present temporary deliverance was to be granted to it ; so that, from the
connection in which the promise of the child stands, coupled with the
loftiness of the terms in which it is expressed, there appears no adequate
occasion for it till the impending calamities were overpast, and the real
Immanuel should come. Indeed, as Dr. Alexander justly states (on Isa. vii.
14), ' There is no ground, grammatical, historical, or logical, for doubt as
to the main point, that the Church in all ages has been right in regarding
the passage as a signal and explicit prediction of the miraculous conception
and nativity of Jesus Christ.' Even Ewald, whose views are certainly low
enough as to his mode of explaining the prediction, yet does not scruple to
say that ' every interpretation is false which does not admit that the pro-
phet speaks of the coming Messias.' (I have discussed the subject at some
length in my Hermeneutical Manual, pp. 416-26.)

We have no hesitation, therefore, in regarding the application of this
prophecy of Isaiah to Christ as an application of the more direct and ob-
vious kind. And such also is the next prophecy referred to by St. Matthew,
— the prophecy of Micah regarding Bethlehem as the Messiah's birthplace.
The Evangelist does not formally quote this prophecy as from himself, but
gives it from the mouth of the chief priests and scribes, of whom Herod
demanded where Christ shoidd be born. The prediction is so plain, that
there was no room for diversity of opinion about it. And as both the pre-
diction itself, and its connection with Isa. vii. 14, have already been com-
mented on in the earlier part of this volume (p. 171), there is no need that
we should further refer to it here.

Presently, however, we come in the second chapter of St. Matthew to
another and different application of a prophecy. For, when relating the
providential circumstances connected with Christ's temporary removal to
Egypt, and His abode there till the death of Herod, he says it took place,
' that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, Out of Egypt have I called my Son.' — (Chap. ii. 15.) It admits
of no doubt that this word of the prophet Hosea was uttered by him rather
as an historical record of the past, than as a prophetical announcement of
the future. It pointed to God's faithfulness and love in delivering Israel
from his place of temporary sojourn : ' When Israel was a child, then I
loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.' When regarded by the
Evangelist, therefore, as a word needing to have its accomplishment in
Christ, it manifestly could not be because the word itself was prophetical,
but only because the event it recorded was typical. Describing a pro-

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 451

phetical circumstance or event, it is hence, by a very common figure of
speech, itself called :i prophecy; since what it records to have been done
in the type, must again be dour in the antitype. And the only point of
moment respecting it is, how could the calling of Israel out of Kgypt be

irded as a prophetica] action in Buch a sense, that it must be repeated in
the personal history of Jesus?

This question has already been answered by anticipation, as to its more
important part, in the last section, where the relation was pointed out be-
tween Christ and Israel. This relation was such that the high calling and
dc -sanation of Israel to be not only blessed, but also the channel of blessing

be world, aeo ssarhy stood over for its proper accomplishment till He
should come who was to combine with the distinctive characteristics of a
child of Abraham the essential properties of the Godhead. All that could
be <lone before this, was no more than the first feeble sproutingsof the tree,
as compared w ith the gigantic stature and expansion of its full growth. So
that, viewed in respect to the purpose and appointment of God, Israel, in
so far as they were the people of God, possessed the beginnings of what was
in its completeness to be developed in Jesus ; they, God's Son in the feeble-
ness and imperfection of infancy, He the Israel of God in realized and con-
centrated fulness of blessing. And hence to make manifest this connection
between the Old and the New, between Israel in the lower and Israel in the
higher sense, it was necessary not only that there should belong to Christ,
in its highest perfection, all that was required to fulfil the calling and
destination of Israel, as described in prophetic Scripture, but that there
should also be such palpable and designed correspondences between His
history and that of ancient Israel, as would belike the signature of Heaven
to His i : us, and the mattn-of-fact testimony to His true Israelite

iv. Buch a correspondence was found especially in the temp' nary
sojourn in Egypt, and subsequent recall from it to the proper field of
Covenant life and blessing. It', as our Lord Himself testified, even the
things that befell the Klias of the Old Testament were a prophecy in action

of the similar things thai were to befall the still greater Klias of the New,
how much more mighl Israel's former experience in this respect be taken
for a prophecy of what w;is substantially to recur in the so closely related
history Of JeSUS I That the old things were thus so palpably returning
tin, w;is God's sign in providence to a slumbering Church, that the greal
end of the old was at Length passing into fulfilment. It proclaimed - and

matters stood there was a moral necessity that it should proclaim that
lie who of old lovt d Israel, so as to preserve him for a time in Egypt, and
then called him out for the lower service he had to render, was DOW going

to revive His work, and can v u forward to its destined completion by that

Child of Hope, to whom all the history and promises of Israel pointed as
their common cent i

In such a ease, of Course, when 1ml li the prophecy and the fulfilment ale

deeds, and deeds connected, the one with a lower, the other with a higher

sphere of sen ice, there could only be a general, nol a complete and detailed,

reement. There must be many differences as well as coincidences. It

452 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

was so in the case of John the Baptist as compared with his prototype Elias.
It was so, too, with our Lord in His temporary connection with Egypt, as
compared with that of ancient Israel. Amid essential agreements there
are obvious circumstantial differences ; but these such only as the altered
circumstances of the case naturally, and indeed necessarily, gave rise to.
Enough, if there were such palpable correspondences as clearly bespoke the
same overruling hand in Providence, working toward the accomplishment
of the same great end. These limitations hold also, they hold with still
greater force, in respect to the next application made by St. Matthew, when
he says of the slaughter by Herod of the infants at Bethlehem, ' Then was
fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama
was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they
are not.' Here the relation is not so close between the Old and the New as
in the former case ; and the words of the Evangelist imply as much, when
he puts it merely, ' Then was fulfilled,' not as before, ' That it might be
fulfilled.' It is manifest, indeed, that when a word originally spoken
respecting an event at Rama (a place some miles north of Jerusalem) is
applied to another event which took place ages afterwards at Bethlehem
(another place lying to the south of it), the fulfilment meant in the latter
case must have been of an inferior and secondary kind. Yet there must
also have been some such relation between the two events, as rendered the
one substantially a repetition of the other ; and something, too, in the whole
circumstances, to make it of importance that the connection between them
should be marked by their being ranged under one and the same propheti-
cal testimony.

Now, the matter may be briefly stated thus : It was at Rama, as we
learn incidentally from Jer. xl. 1, that the Chaldean conqueror of old as-
sembled the last band of Israelitish captives before sending them into exile.
And being a place within the territory of Benjamin, the ancestral mother
of the tribe, Rachel, is poetically represented by the prophet as raising a
loud cry of distress, and giving way to a disconsolate grief, because getting
there, as she thought, the last look of her hapless children, seeing them
ruthlessly torn from her grasp, and doomed to an apparently hopeless exile.
The wail was that of a fond mother, whose family prospects seemed now to
be entirely blasted. And, amid all the outward diversities that existed, the
Evangelist descried substantially the same ground for such a disconsolate
grief in the event at Bethlehem. For here, again, there was another,
though more disguised enemy, of the real hope of Israel, who struck with
relentless severity, and struck what was certainly meant to be an equally
fatal blow. Though it was but a handful of children that actually perished,
yet, as among these the Child of Promise was supposed to be included, it
might well seem as if all were lost ; Rachel's offspring, as the heritage of
God, had ceased to exist ; and the new covenant, with all its promises of
grace and glory, was for ever buried in the grave of that Son of the virgin
— if so be that He had fallen a victim to the ruthless jealousy of the tyrant.
So that, viewed in regard to the main thing, the Chaldean conqueror had

THE OLD TESTAMENT IX THE NEW. 453

again revived in the ernel Edomite, who then held the government of
.Jtulea ; and the daughter ;it Bethlehem was, in spirit and design, as fatal a
catastrophe as tin' Bweepiog away of tin- lasl remnant of Jews into tin- de-
vouring gulph of Babylon. As vain, therefore, for the Church of the New
l • itamenl to look f'>r a friend in Herod, in respect to the needed redemption,
as for the Church of the Old to have looked for such in Nebuchadnezzar.
Such is the instruction briefly contained in the Evangelist's application of
the prophecy of Jeremiah ; an instruction much needed then, when so many
wen- disposed to look for great things from the Herods, instead of regarding
them as the deadliest enemies of the truth, and the manifest rods of Cod's
displeasure. The lesson, indeed, was needed for all times, thai the Church

might be warned nol t" expert prosperity and triumph to the cause of
Christ from the succour of ungodly rulers of this world, hut from God, who
alone could defend her from their c machinations and violence.

In this last application of a prophetic word by St. Matthew to the events
of the Gospel, there is a remarkable disregard of external and BUperficL I
differences, for the sake of the more inward and vital marks of agreement.
It is somewhat singular, that, in his next application, the reverse seems
rather to be the case, — a deep spiritual characteristic of Messiah is connect! d
with the mere name of a city. The settling of Joseph and Mary at Nazareth,
it is Bald, at the close of ch. ii., took place ' that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.' There is here
a preliminary 'lilliculty in regard to the thing said to have been spoken by
the prophets, which is not in so many words to be found in any prophetical
book of the Old Testament ; and, indeed, from its being Bald to have lien
spoken by the prophets generally, we are led to suppose that the Evangelist
dot a n"t mean t<> gire as the precise statement of any single prophet, but
rather the collected sense of several. 11'- seems chiefly to refer to those
in l-iiah and Zechariah, where tic Messiah was announced as the
.Y' -.. /• or sprouting hranch of the house of I >a\ Id, pointing to the unpretend-
ing lowliness of II ranee and His kingdom. It is understood that
the town Nazareth had its name from the same root, and on account of its

t and d< spi ed condition. That it was generally regarded with feelings

of contempt even in Galilee, appears from the question of Nathanael, 'Can
any good thing come out of Nazareth?1 — (John i. 40.) And it is quite
natural to suppose that this may have been expressed in its very name. So
that the meaning of the Evangelist here conies to he, that the providence of

1 directed Joseph to Nazareth, as a place in name, as well as general
repute, peculiarly low ami despised, that the prophi pecting Jesus as

the tender shoot of Dai id'f 1 1' in might !»• fulfilled. The meaning, certainly,
thus becomes plain enough ; but it seems Btrange that so outward and com-
I aratively unimportant a circumstance Bhould be pointed to as a fulfilment

■ rophecy. In this, however, we an- apt t*> judge too much from the
■ advanced position of Christ ■ and kingdom; and also from

the' greatly alti red tore' of thjnking in respect to tie- significance of nan
The Jews were accustomed t" mark everything by an appropriate name:

with them the appellations of men, towns, ami localities every where utt.i, 1

454 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

a sentiment or told a history. A respect to this prevalent tone of thinking
pervades the whole Gospel narrative, and appears especially in the names
given to the place of Christ's birth (Bethlehem, house of bread), to the
Baptist (John, the Lord's favour), and Jesus (Saviour) ; in the surnames
applied by Christ to Simon (Cephas), to James and John (Boanerges). So
natural was this mode of viewing things to the disciples, that the Evangelist
John even finds a significance in the name of Siloam as connected with one
of the miracles of Jesus. — (Ch. ix. 7.) It was fitly called Siloam, sent, since
one was now sent to it for such a miracle of mercy ; its name would hence-
forth acquire a new significancy. It might, therefore, be perfectly natural
for those who lived in our Lord's time, to attach considerable importance to
the name of the town where He was brought up, and whence He was to
manifest Himself to Israel. And in that state of comparative infancy, when
a feeble faith and a low spiritual sense required even outward marks, like
finger-posts, to guide them into the right direction, it was no small token
of the overruling providence of God, that He made the very name of
Christ's residence point so distinctly to the lowly condition in which ancient
prophets had foretold He should appear. By no profound sagacity, or deep
spiritual insight, but even as with their bodily eyesight, they might behold
the truth, that Jesus was the predicted Nezer, or tender shoot of David.
Thus the word of the prophets was fulfilled in a way peculiarly adapted to
the times.

The same kind of outwardness and apparent superficiality, but coupled
with the same tender consideration and spiritual discernment, discovers
itself in some of the other applications made by the Evangelists of ancient
prophecy. Thus, in Matt. viii. 17, Christ is said to have wrought His
miraculous cures on the diseases of men, ' that it might be fulfilled which
Avas spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities and
bare our sicknesses.' Was this the whole that the prophet meant? Was
it even the main thing ? The Evangelist does not, in fact, say that it was :
he merely says that Christ was now engaged in the work of which the
prophet spake in these words ; and so, indeed, He was. Christ was sent
into the world to remove by His mediatorial agency the evil that sin had
brought into the world. He began this work when He cured bodily diseases,
as these were the fruits of sin ; and the removal of them was intended to
serve as a kind of ladder to guide men to the higher and more spiritual part
that still remained to be done. It was this very connection which our
Lord Himself marked, when He said alternately to the man sick of the
palsy, ' Thy sins be forgiven thee,' and, ' Arise, take up thy bed and
walk :' it was as much as to say, the doing of the one goes hand in hand
with the other ; they are but different parts of the same process. That
Matthew knew well enough which was the greater and more important part
of the process, is evident from the explanation he records of the name of
Jesus (ch. i. 21, ' He shall save His people from their sins') ; and his re-
porting such a declaration of Christ as this, ' The Son of Man came to give
His life a ransom for many.' — (Ch. xx. 28.) We have similar examples in
John xix. 36, where the preservation of our Lord's limbs from violence is

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 455

regarded as a fulfilment of the prophecy in type: 'A bone of Him (the
Paschal Lamb) .-hall not be broken ; ' and in ver. 37, where the piercing of
Christ's Bide is connected with the prediction in Zechariah: ' They shall
look, on 1 1 i in whom they pierced.1 It IB evident that in both cases alike

original word Looked farther than the mere outward circamstancea
here noticed, and had respect mainly to spiritual characteristics. Hut thi;
Evangelist, who had a quick eye to the discerning of the spiritual in the

rnal, who could even see in the slight elevation of the cross something
thai I. as it were, to heaven (ch. xii. 88), saw also the hand of God

in those apparently accidental and superficial distinctions in Christ's cruci-
fied body, — the finger-mark of Heaven, giving visible form and expression
to the great truths tiny embodied, that they might be the more readily
apprehended. It was not as if these outward things were the whole in his
view, but that they were the Heaven-appointed signs and indications of
the whole: Beeing these, he, in the simplicity of faith, saw all, — in the
unbroken leg, the all-perfect Victim ; in the pierced side, the unutterable
my and distress of the bleeding heart of Jesus.

We need do little more than refer to the other applications made of Old

anient prophecy to Jesus by the Evangelists. They are either appli-
cations in the most direct and obvious sense of predictions, that can 1
understood of no other circumstances and events than those they are ap-
plied to, or applications of some of the psalms and other prophecies, which
had already been employed in part by Christ Himself. Thus, Matt. iv. 15,
16, which regards the light diffused by the preaching of Jesus in the land
of Naphtali and Zebulun as a fulfilment of the prophecy in Isa. ix. 1, 2;
Matt. xxi. 4, John xii. 15, which connect Christ's riding into Jerusalem
on an ass with the prophecy in Zech. ix. 9 ; Matt, xxvii. 'J, which, in like
manner, connects the transactions about the thirty pieces of money given
tu Judas with tha prophecy in Zech. xi. L8 ; — these are admitted bj all the
in. ue learned and judicious interpreters of the present day to he applica-
prophecy of the most direct and simple kind. Portions of Ps. xxii..
ami of Isa. xlii. 1-1, liii. 1. 12, of which we have already had occasion to

ik. in connection with our Lord's own use of ancient Scripture, are
erred to, as finding their fulfilment in Christ, in if att. xxvii. 85 ; John

xii. 88, 40, xix. 24; Mark xv. 28. Th ily remaining passage in the

Gospels, in which there is anything like a peculiar application of old Tes-
tament Scripture, ia Matt. xiii. .".1 85, where the Evangelist represents our
Loi rting to the parabolical method of instruction as a fulfilment of

what is written in Ps. Lxxviii. 2, and which has been explained in the
chapter t<> which this Appendix refers. (See p. 140.)

Thus we see that in. arbitrary or unregulated use is made by the Evan-
gelists of ancient prophecy in regard to tin- events of Oospel history, but
such only as evinced a profound anil comprehensive view of the connection
between the old and tin- New in God's dispensations. They had Christ's
own authority for all they did, — either as to the principle on which their
applications were made, or tie- precise porti Scripture applied by

them. Ami nothing more is needed I our entire sym-

456 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

pathy and concurrence, than, first, that we clearly apprehend the relation
of Christ, as the God-man, to the whole scheme and purposes of God, aud
then that we realize the peculiar circumstances of the Church at the time
when the higher and more spiritual things of the Gospel began to take the
place of those that were more outward and preparatory. The want of these
has been the chief source of the embarrassment that has been experienced
on the subject.

V. — APPLICATIONS IN THE WRITINGS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL.

No one can fail to perceive that very frequent use is made of Old Testa-
ment Scripture in the writings of the Apostle Paul. Sometimes the use
he makes of it is quite similar to that made by the Apostle Peter in his
epistles, — one, namely, of simple reference or appropriation. He adopts
the language of Old Testament Scripture as his own, as finding in that the
most suitable expression of the thoughts he wished to convey (Rom. ii. 24,
x. 18, xii. 19, 20 ; Eph. iv. 26, v. 14, etc.) ; or he refers to the utterances
it contained of God's mind and will, as having new and higher exemplifi-
cations given to them under the Gospel. — (Rom. i. 17 ; 1 Cor. i. 19, 31 ;
2 Cor. vi. 16, 17, viii. 15, ix. 9, etc.) Of this latter sort also, substantially,
is the application he makes to Christ in Eph. iv. 8, of a passage in Ps. lxviii.
(' He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive,' etc.), — a psalm which
is nowhere else in New Testament Scripture applied to Christ, nor is it
one of those which, from their clear and pointed reference to the things
of Christ's kingdom, are usually designated Messianic. In applying the
words of the psalm to the ascension of Christ, and His subsequent bestowal
of divine gifts, the apostle can hardly be understood to mean more than
that what was done figuratively and in an inferior sense in the times of
David by God, was now most really and gloriously done in Christ.

And there is also another appbcation of an Old Testament Scripture by
the Apostle Paul, which might, perhaps, without violence be understood,
and by some evangelical interpreters is understood, in a similar manner,
not as a direct prophecy, uttered in respect to Christian times, but as the
announcement of a principle in God's dealing with His ancient people,
which came again to be most strikingly exemplified under the Gospel. We
allude to the passage in Isa. xxviii. 16 (combined with ch. viii. 14, 15),
which is adduced by Paul in Rom. ix. 33 (as it is also, and still more em-
phatically, by Peter in his first Epistle, ch. ii. 7, 8) as bearing upon Christ,
and the twofold effect of His manifestation upon the destinies of men:
' Behold, I lay in Zion a stone,' etc. We regard it, however, as by much
the most natural method, to take the word of the prophet there as a direct
prediction of Gospel times. The difficulty in finding a specific object of
reference otherwise, is itself no small proof of the correctness of this view,
— some understanding it of the temple, some of the law, others of Zion, and
others still again of Hezekiah. The prophet, we are persuaded, is looking
above and beyond all these. Contemplating the people in their guilt and
waywardness as engaged in contriving, by counsels and projects of their

Till: OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 457

own, to secure the perpetuity of their covenant blessings, he introduces the
Lord as declaring that there was to be a secure and abiding perpetuity,
but not by such vain and Lying di \ ici a aa theirs, nor for the men who fol-
lowed such corrupt courses as they were doing; but God Himself would
lay the si m • and immoveable foundation in Zion, by means of which every
humble believer would find ample confidence and safety : while to thc
perverse and unbelieving this also should become but a new occasion of
stumbling and perdition. It can be understood of nothing properly but
Christ. Ami we therefore have no hesitation in considering the word as
a dinct prediction of Gospel times, of which the only proper fulfilment
was to be found in New Testament history.

It is not so much, however, by way of simple reference or application,
that Paul makes either his most frequent or his most peculiar application of
< >ld Testament Scripture ; he is more remarkable for the argumentative use
he makes of it. He often introduces it in express and formal citations to
establish his doctrinal positions, or to show the entire conformity of the
views he unfolded of divine truth with those which had been propounded
by the servants of God in former times. It is in connection with this use
nf ancient Scripture by Paul, that the only difficulties of any moment in
his application of it are to be found. And as we have already referred
(in the first section) to his use, in this respect, of the historical and didac
portions, wc have at present only to do with his employment of the pro-
phecies. In respect to these also, the BUbject, in so far as it calls for con-

ration here, narrows itself to a comparatively limited field; for it is
only in the application made of a few prophecies, and these bearing on the
questions agitated in the apostle's day between .lew and Gentile, that
marked peculiarity strikes us. In saying this, however, we must be under-

kI as leaving OUt of view the Epistle to the Hebrews; in which such a
distinctive use of Old Testament Scripture is made as will require a separate
consideration.

Now, the chief peculiarity is this, that while the apostle, in the portions
of his writings referred to, wrote argumentative] v. and consequently be-
h0V( d to employ his weapons iii the nm.-l unequivocal and uniform manner,
lie -. tns to vary considerably in his manner of handling the prophecies: he

n seems to use a strange freedom with the literal and spiritual mode of

rpretation; now, apparently, taking them in the one, and now, again,

i the other sense, as suited his convenience. So, at least, the depredators

i I the a] oetle's intlu-i.ee have not (infrequently alleged it to be. Bui is it

SO in reality? The matter certainly demands a dose and attentive 0 n-

ration.

I. The passage that naturally comes first in order is that in Rom. IV.
11-16, where the apostle refers to the promises of blessing made to Abra-
ham, and in particular to the two declarations, that he should be a father

many nation-, and should have a seed of blessing — or rather, should be
the bead of Ou seed of blessing throughout all the families of the earth. En
reasoning upon these promises, the object of th- | lainly to show,

458 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

that as they were made to Abraham before he received circumcision, — that
is, while he was still, as to any legal ground of distinction, in a heathen
state, — so they bore respect to a posterity as well without as within the
bounds of lineal descent and legal prescription ; to those, indeed, within,
but even there only to those who believed as he did, and attained to the
righteousness of faith : and besides these, to all who should tread ' in the
steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had when still uncir-
cumcised.' According, therefore, to the apostle's interpretation, the seed
promised to Abraham in the original prophecy was essentially of a spiritual
kind ; it comprehended all the children of faith, wherever they might be
found, — as well the children of faith apart from the law, as the children of
faith under the law. The justness of this wide and profoundly spiritual in-
terpretation, the apostle specially bases, as we have said, on the time when
circumcision — the sign and seal of the covenant — began to be administered ;
not before, but after the promises were given. And he might also have
added, as a collateral argument, the persons to whom it was administered —
not to that portion only of Abraham's lineal descendants, of whom the Jews
sprung, nor even to his lineal descendants alone as a body ; but to all col-
lectively who belonged to him at the first as a household, and all afterwards
who, by entering into the bond of the covenant, should seek to belong to
him. — (Ex. xii. 48, etc.) What could more evidently show that Abraham's
seed, viewed in the light contemplated in the promise as a seed of blessing,
was to be pre-eminently of a spiritual nature ? a seed that was only in part
to be found among the corporeal offspring of the patriarch ; but, wherever
found, was to have for its essential and most distinctive characteristic his
faith and righteousness ?

It is the positive side of the matter that the apostle seeks to bring out
at this stage of his argument : his object is to manifest how far the spiritual
element in the promise reaches. But at another stage, in ch. ix. 6-13, he
exhibits with equal distinctness the negative side ; he shows how the same
spiritual element excludes from the promised seed all, even within the cor-
poreal descent and the outward legal boundary, who at any period did not
possess the faith and righteousness of Abraham. All along the blessing was
to descend through grace by faith ; and such as might be destitute of these
were not, in the sense of the original prophecy, the children of Abraham :
they were rather, as our Lord expressly called the Jews of His day, the
children of the devil, John viii. 44, — a declaration that rests on the same
fundamental view of the promise as that unfolded in the argument of the
apostle.

II. But now, if we turn to another portion of the apostle's writings, — to
the Epistle to the Galatians, where he is substantially handling the same
argument as to the alone sufficiency of faith in the matter of justification, —
we find what, at first sight, appears to be in one respect a quite opposite
principle of interpretation ; we find the mere letter of the promise so much
insisted on, that even the word seed, being in the singular, is regarded as
limiting it to an individual. In ch. iii. 6-18 of this epistle, the argument

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 459

of the apostle is of the following nature :— Abraham himself attained to
b asing siinj.lv through faith ; and when he was told that even all Data/
should come to partake in his blessing, it was implied that they also should
attain to it through the same faith that dwelt in him. The law entered
long after this promise of blessing had been given ; and if the blessing were
now made to depend npon the fulfilment of the law, then the promise
would be virtually disannulled. Not only so. but the promise was expressly
made to Abraham's seed, as of one, not as of many — ' to thy Beed,' which,
says the appetle, 'is Christ;' thus apparently making the promise point
exclusively to the Messiah, and in order to this, forcing on the collective
noun teed a properly singular meaning.

Set, on the other hand, it would be very strange if the apostle had
actually done so. For every one know.-, who is in the least degree acquainted
with the language of the Old Testament, that seed, when used of a person's
offspring, is always taken collectively ; it never denotes a single individual,
unless that individual were the whole of the offspring. Educated as Paul
was. it was impossible he could be ignorant of this ; nay, in this very chapter.
he shows himself to be perfectly cognizant of the comprehensive meaning of
the word seed; and the drift of his whole argument is to prove that evt ry
child of faith is a component part of the seed promised to Abraham — that
'they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham;' or, as he
again puts it at the close, ' If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed,
and heirs according to the promise.'

It is thus clear as day, that the apostle here took the same comprehen-
sive view of the promise to Abraham that he did in the fourth chapter of
Romans; so that the distinction between seed and seeds, when properly
understood, can only be meant to draw the line of demarcation between one

38 of Abraham's family and another — between posterity and posterity.
For though it would be quite against the ordinary usage to speak of inrfi-
viduals in tin same line as so many seeds, it would l>y no means be so to
speak thus of so many distinct lines of offspring; these might fitly enough
be regarded as so many seeds or posterities. Such, actually, is the meaning
of the apostle here. In his view, Abraham's seed of blessing in the promise
are his helieving ity, — these alone, and not the descendants of Abra-

ham in every sense. ' Had this latter been expressed in the words,' as
TholtLCK justly remarks, 'seeds would require to have been used ; as then
only could it have been inferred that all the posterity of Abraham, includ-
ing those by natural descent, were embraced. Hut since the singular I-
used, t liis shows that the prophecy had & definite posterity in view— namely,
a in in ring posterity. The Jew must have been the more disposed to admit
this, as for him also it would have proved too much, if the prophecy had

ii made to embrace absolutely the whole of Abraham's offspring. He,
t ■". WOUld have wished the lines by Ishmael and EDsSU excluded.' So that,

ired in respect to the promised inheritance of blessing, those, on the one
hand, who were merely born after the flesh, in the common course of
nature, yiae DOt reckoned of the seed, — they were still, in a sense, unborn,
because they have wanted the indispensable spiritual element; while, on

460 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the other hand, those are reckoned, who, though they want the natural
descent, have come to possess the more important spiritual affinity, — they
have been born from above, and have their standing and inheritance among
the children.

But if such be the import of the apostle's statement, why, then, it may
be asked, does he in ver. 16 so expressly limit the seed of blessing to Christ?
He does it, we reply, in the very same sense in which at ver. 8 he limited
the blessing to Abraham : in the one case, he identifies Abraham with all
the posterity of blessing, and in the other Christ ; in both cases alike, the
two heads comprehend all who are bound up with them in the same bundle
of life.. ' The Scripture foreseeing,' he says at ver. 8, ' that God would
justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham,
saying, "In thee shall all nations be blessed.'" In thee, combining the
blessing of Abraham and all his spiritual progeny of believers into compact
unity ; he, the head, and those who spiritually make one body with him,
being viewed together, and blessed in the same act of God. In like manner,
when at ver. 16 the apostle passes from the parent to the seed, and regards
the seed as existing simply in Christ, it is because he views Christ as form-
ing one body with His people ; in Him alone the blessing stands as to its
ground and merit, and in Him, therefore, the whole seed of blessing have
their life and being. So that the term seed is still used collectively by the
apostle ; it is applied to Christ, not as an individual, but to Christ as com-
prehending in Himself all who form with Him a great spiritual unity, — those
who in this same chapter of the Galatians are said to have ' put on Christ,'
and to have become ' all one in Him' (a personal mystical unity, ver. 27;
28). We find precisely the same identification of Christ and His people,
when the apostle elsewhere says of the Church, that it is ' His body, the
fulness of Him that filleth all in all' (Eph. i. 23) ; and yet again, when he
says in 1 Cor. xii. 12, ' As the body is one, and hath many members, and
all the members of that one body being many, are one body, so also is
Christ,' — that is, Christ taken in connection with His Church ; He and
they together.

III. Reverting again to the Epistle to the Romans, to that part of it in
which the apostle discusses the subject of the present unbelief and rejec-
tion, together with the future conversion of the Jews, chap, ix., x., xi., we
find an apparent want of uniformity somewhat more difficult to explain.
If we look at one part, there is the greatest freeness ; but if at another,
there seems the greatest strictness and literality in the manner he handles
and applies the words of prophecy. In ch. ix. 25, 26, he introduces from
Hosea what was unquestionably spoken in immediate reference to ancient
Israel, and gives it a quite general application. Speaking of Israel as now
apostate and rejected, but afterwards to be converted, the prophet had said
that those who had been treated without mercy should yet obtain mercy,
and those who had been called ' Not my people,' should yet be called
' The children of the living God.'— (Ch. i. 10, ii. 23.) This the apostle
adduces hi proof of the statement, that God was now calling to the bless-

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 401

ings of salvation vessels of mercy, 'not of the Jews only, but also of the
Gentiles.' It is certainly possible that in applying the words thus, the
apostle did not mean to pn as them as in the strid sense a prophecy of the
calling and conversion of the Gentiles. He may have referred to them
simply as exhibiting a display of divine mercy, precisely similar in kind to
what was now exemplified in the salvation of the Gentiles ; that is, mercy
1 on persons who previously were cut off from any interest in its
provisions, and in themselves bad Lost all claims to its enjoyment. That
was to be done, according to the prophet, ill the case of many in Israel ;
and if it was now also done in the case of a people called alike from
among Jews and Gentiles, it was no new thing ; it was but the old prin-
ciple of the prophecy finding a new exemplification. Such, perhaps, is all
the apostle means by this application of prophecy to Gospel times.

Bui we cannot bo explain another applicati in made in the next chapter
of the epistle. There, in proof of the declaration that ' there is no differ-
ence between the Jew and the Greek, the same Lord over all being rich
unto all that call upon Him,1 he quotes what is said in Joel ii. 32 : ' For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.1 As found
in Joel, the prediction has throughout an Israelitish aspect. It is 'in
Mount Zion and in Jerusalem1 that the deliverance or salvation is said to
be provided ; and while the Spirit is spoken of as going to be poured out
on 'all flesh,' still it seems to be flesh only as belonging to the Israelitish
territory : for in describing the effect of the outpouring, the prophet says,
■ Four sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men,' etc. Re-
ferring to it, therefore, as the apostle does, for a formal proof of the

ition, that there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek in the
matter of salvation, he must have considered the prophet as simply address-
ing the Church of God, without respect to the Jewish element, which at
that time so largely entered into its composition. He must have under-
stood the prophecy as uttered respecting the visible Church of God — no
matt r of what element composed, or how constituted; otherwise there
would have been mom for plying him with the objection, that by the
connection the 'all flesh,1 and the 'everyone that calleth,1 should be
understood of such only among the circumcised Jews, not of those who
belonged to tfa omcised Gentiles. In this more restricted sense

St Peter plainly applied the words of the prediction ou the day of Pente-

■ : for not till some years afterwards did he entertain any thought of

prehending in its provisions the Gentiles as such. Paul's application

oi it. therefore, is much freer than Peter's, and proceeds <»n the ground of

converted Gentiles, than believing Jews, being interested in the

ration addressed to the [sraelitish Church.

We find also the same broad principle of interpretation in the fourth

r of Galatians, where, in regard to the Church of the NewTesta-

meiit, the apostle quotes Iaa. lfv. 1, * Sing, O ban-en, thou that didst not

bear; break forth into ringing, and cry aloud, thou that didst QOt travail

with child : for more are the children of the desolate than the children of

the married wife, saith the Lord.' It Li distinctly as a proof text that the

4G2 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

apostle introduces this passage from Isaiah, prefacing it with the -words,
' for it is written,' — a proof that the ' Jerusalem that is above,' in other
words, the real Church, is ' the mother of us all ' who are Christians, and
as such is ' free,' the real and proper spouse of the Lord. Yet there can
be no doubt that in uttering the word, the prophet addressed more imme-
diately the Jewish Church ; of that, no one who reads the prophecy in its
original connection can entertain the slightest doubt. Hence, according
to the interpretation of St. Paul, it is not the Jewish element at that time
existing in the Church which is now to be respected ; it is simply the ele-
ment of her being the spouse of God (' For thy Maker is thine husband '),
which consequently gives to the Church of the New Testament, though
formed mainly of believers from among the Gentiles, an equal interest in
the grace promised in that prophetic word, with the Church as it was when
composed almost exclusively of the descendants of Jacob.

But then the apostle seems suddenly to abandon this broad principle of
prophetical interpretation, when in Rom. xi. 26 he comes to speak of the
future conversion of the natural Israel : ' And so (that is, after the fulness
of the Gentiles has come in, till which blindness in part has happened to
Israel) all Israel shall be saved ; as it is written, There shall come out of
Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob : for this is
my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.' Appealed to
as in itself a sufficient proof that the natural seed of Israel as a whole shall
be saved, is not this prophecy from Isa. lix. 20, 21, here understood as
spoken to the Jewish people not as a Church, but merely as a race ? Are
not those ' in Jacob' the fleshly descendants merely of the patriarch, with
the literal Zion as the centre of their commonwealth ? And if so here,
why not elsewhere ? Why not also in the prophecies already referred to ?
And how, then, should the apostle in them have made account only of the
spiritual element in Israel as the Church of God, and regarded the natural
(as expressed in the words, Jacob, Zion, Jerusalem) as but incidental and
temporary ?

Such questions not unnaturally arise here; and the rather so, as the
apostle has somewhat altered the words of the prophecy, apparently as if
to make them suit better the immediate object to which he applied it. In
the prophet it is to Zion, not out of it, that the Redeemer was to come ;
and He was to come, not to turn away ungodliness from Jacob, but ' to
those that turn from transgression in Jacob.' Such deviations from the
scope and purport of the original have appeared to some so material, that
they have come to regard the apostle here, not so properly interpreting an
old prediction, as uttering a prediction of his own, clothed as nearly as
possible in the familiar language of an ancient prophecy. But this is an
untenable position ; for how could we, in that case, have vindicated the
apostle from the want of godly simplicity, using, as he must then have
done, his accustomed formula for prophetical quotations ( 'As it is written'),
only to disguise and recommend an announcement properly his own ?

"We can acquiesce in no solution of the difficulty which would represent
the apostle as sailing under false colour's. Nor can we regard the altera-

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 463

tions as the result of accident or forgetfulness. They have manifestly
Bprong from design. The correct view, both of the use made of the pre-
diction, and of the line of thought connected with it, we take to be this:
The apostle gives the substantia] import of the prophecy in Isaiah, but in

ordance with his design Lives it also a more Bpecial direction, and

that pointed to the kind of fulfilment it must now be expected in that
direction to receive. According to the prophet, the Redeemer was to come,
literally for Zion — somehow in its behalf; and in the behalf also of peni-
tent souls in it — these turning from transgression. So, indeed, lie had come
already, in the most literal and exact manner, and the small remnant who
turned from ti. on recognised Him and hailed His coming. But

the apostle is here looking beyond these j he is Looking to the posterity of
Jacob generally, for whom, in this and other similar predictions, he descries
a purpose of mercy still in reserve. For while he strenuously contends
that the promise of a seed of bles.-ing to Abraham, through the line of
Jacob, was not confined to the natural offspring, he explicitly declares this
to have been always included — not the whole, indeed, yet an elect portion
out of it. At that very time, when so many were rejected, he tells us
there was such an elect portion ; and there must still continue to be so,
* for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance:' that is, God
having connected a blessing with Abraham and his seed in perpetuity, He
could never recall it again ; there should never cease to be some in whom
that blessing was realized. But besides, here also there must be a fulness :
the first-fruits of bit BSing gave promise of a coming harvest ; and the fulness
of the Gentiles itself is a pledge of it: for if there was to be a fulness of
these coming in to inherit the blessing, because of the purpose of God to
bless the families of the earth in Abraham and his seed, how much more
must there be rach a fulness in the seed itself! The overflotvings of the
sin am could not possibly reach farther than (he direct channel. But then this
tiilin SB, in the case of the natural Israel, was not to be (as they themselves
imagined, and as many along with them still imagine) separate and apart;
as if by providing some channel, or appointing for them some place of their
own. Of this the apostle ^ives no intimation whatever. .Nay, on purpose,
we believe, to exclude that very idea, he gives a more special turn to the

phecy, so as to make it <>ut oj /.ion that the Redeemer was to come, and
to turn away ungodliness from those in Jacob. For the old literal Zion,
in the ap< -tie's view, was now gone : its external framework was presently
to be laid in ruins; and the only Zion, in connection with which the
Redeemer could henceforth come, was that Zion in which He now dwells,
which is tin' .-.Hue with the heavenly Jerusalem, the Church of the New
anient. He urn.-! come out <>J it, at the Bame time that lb' comes for

it. in behalf of the natural Beed of Jacob; and this is all one with saying

that these could only now attain to blessing in connection with tie Chris-
tian Church j or. SS 'he apostle himself puts it, OOUld only ( btain mercy

through their mercy, namely* by the reflux of that mercy which has been
bearing in the fulness of believing Gentiles. Thus alone, now, could the
prophecy reach its fulfilment in the case of the natural I neially. as

4G4 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

the result of a Saviour's gracious presence coming forth from His dwelling-
place in Zion, and acting through the instrumentality of a Christian Church.
So explained, this part of the apostle's argument is in perfect accordance
with his principles of interpretation and reasoning elsewhere ; and it holds
out the amplest encouragement in respect to the good yet in store for the
natural Israel. It holds out none, indeed, in respect to the cherished hope
of a literal re-establishment of their ancient polity. ■ It rather tends to dis-
courage any such expectations ; for the Zion in connection with which it
tells us the Messiah is to come, is the one in which He at present dwells —
the Zion of the New Testament Church ; to which He can no longer come,
except at the same time by coming out of it. Let the Church, therefore,
that already dwells with Him in this Zion (Heb. xii. 22), go forth in His
name, and deal in faith and love with these descendants of the natural
Israel. Let her feel that the presence and the blessing of the Lord are with
her, that she may bring His word to bear with living power on the outcasts
of Jacob, as well as on those ready to perish among the heathen. Let her
do it now, not waiting for things that, if they shall ever happen, lie beyond
the limits alike of her responsibility and her control ; and remembering
that, for anything we can tell, the fulness of converted Israel may be
brought about gradually, somewhat like the fulness of converted Gentiles.
This also was spoken of as one great event by our Lord, when He warned
the Jews that the Gospel would be taken from them, and given to a nation
bringing forth the fruits thereof. — (Matt. xxi. 43.) Yet how slow and
progressive the accomplishment ! Converted Jews, step by step, diffused
the leaven of the kingdom among the Gentiles, and converted Gentiles may
have to do the part of similarly diffusing it among the Jews that still re-
main in unbelief. And so ' the life from the dead,' which the conversion
of Israel is to bring to the Christian Church, may be no single revival
effected by a stroke, but a succession of reviving and refreshing influences
coming in with every new blessing vouchsafed to the means used for
turning away ungodliness from Jacob.

VI.— THE APPLICATIONS MADE IN THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS —

CONCLUSION.

Apart altogether from the doubts which, since an early period, have
hung around the authorship of this epistle (on which it were impossible to
give any satisfactory deliverance here), there are peculiarities in the use
made of Old Testament Scripture, which call for separate treatment,
whether it proceeded from the pen of St. Paul or not.

The epistle abounds with references to Old Testament Scripture, and
with direct quotations from it ; as was, indeed, unavoidable from the nature
of the subject it discusses. It is in its main theme a reasoning from the
Old to the New ; not, however, for the purpose of proving that Jesus was
the Christ promised to the fathers, but raLher, taking for granted this as a
point mutually held, and showing, from the dignity of Christ's person, and
the perfection of His work, as indicated even in Old Testament Scripture,

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 465

completeness of His dispensation in itself, and the mingled fully and
danger of keeping up the shadowy services of Judaism, which had Lost all
their importance when their d isign was accomplished in Christ. To con-
tinue still tn adhere to them, of necessity betokened at the very outset de-
fective views of the superlative glory of Christ, and a tendency to look
those merely temporary representations of it for more than they were ev< c
intended t<> impart ; and the probability was, that, if persevered in, the
carnal elemenl would carry it entirely over the spiritual, and complete ship-
wreck of the faith would be made amid the dead observances of an obsolete
and now annulled Judaism. Such, briefly, is the aim and drift of this
epistle ; and it very naturally leads US to expect that the author, in treat-
ing the subject, would make considerable use of passages in Old Testament
Scripture bearing on Gosp ■! times ; that he would lay especial emphasis on
those passages which cither substantially implied or expressly announ<
the pre-eminent greatness of Christ's person, and work, and kingdom ; and
that he would also draw largely upon the accredited memorials of the p
for warnings and expostulations against the danger of backsliding and
apostasy, and for incentives to j in the higher degrees of knowl

and virtue. All this we might have expected, and all this we find, in an
epistle full of doctrinal expositions, happily combined with the earn

ireement of practical duty. But there are some peculiarities in the
application of Old Testament ; - that appear in the course of the

argument, which are not to be met with, at least to the same extent, in any
other portions of the New Testament, and which call for some explanation.

1. Pint of all. there is a peculiarity in the mode of selection. Out of
thirty-two ur thirty-three passages in all that are quoted from the Scrip-
tares, do fewer than sixteen, or one-half, are taken f mm the book of Psalms;

and these, wuh only one or two exceptions in the two first chapters, com-
prise all that are referred to as bearing immediately on the person or Work
of Christ. There is something very singular in this, and something, we
dispose:] to think, which should have a degree of importance attached

it in connection with the author's manner of dealing with Scripture.
For some reason or another. ! e n It himself, if not absolutely shut up, yet
practically influenced to confine almost entirely his proof passages, respect-

Christ as the Head of the new dispensation, to such as mighl be found
in the book of Psalms. What that reason might be we can only conjecture,
"t- with some probability infer from the nature and object of the epi

-il'ly it 'in the constant use made of the psalter in the Jewish

worship, whereby it was not only rendered more familiar to the minds of
;hc Judaizing Christians than any other portion of ancient Scripture, but

alfl I most naturally regarded as of special authority in matters ( ■
1 with the devotional service of (iod. So that arguments drawn from
this source in behalf of a more spiritual worship, and for tie- d E

lily services with which it had been wont to I iated, ild scarcely

i il to tell with peculiar force on the subject of controversy — might even

. iu to come like a voice from the temple it elf in b itimony against
antiquated usages. At all events, the fact of the apostle's quotations on

\ OL. I. *J G

4(16 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCPJPTUPE.

this point being derived almost wholly from the Psalms, may justly be
regarded as resting on some important consideration which it was necessary
to keep in view. And this being the case, we should not so much wonder
at testimonies respecting Christ being taken from passages there where He
is not so plainly exhibited, while no reference is made to others in the pro-
phetical books of Scripture more direct and explicit. The author deemed
it right to draw his materials from a limited field, and he naturally pressed
these as far as he properly coidd.

2. But does he not press them too far ? Does he not really seek for
materials in proof of Christ's personal or mediatorial greatness where they
are not to be found ? So it has been supposed ; and it is not to be denied
that another peculiarity meets us here, in the extent to which the book of
Psalms is used in this epistle for testimonies respecting Christ. Particular
psalms are employed in the discussion which are nowhere else in the New
Testament applied to Christ. Not, however, it should be observed, to the
neglect of those which are elsewhere applied to Him ; not as if the author
were hunting for concealed treasures, and making light of such as lay open
to his view. The more remarkable Messianic psalms — the 2d, the 22d, the
40th, the 45th, the 110th — are all referred to at different places as testifying
of the things belonging to the Messiah. But besides these (to which we do
not need now to refer more particularly), we find in the first chapter alone
two other psalms, the 97th and the 102d, quoted without a note of expla-
nation as portions bearing respect to Christ. Thus, at ver. 6, it is said,
' When He bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, He saith, And
let all the angels of God worship Him,' quoting the latter clause of Ps.
xcvii. 7. And the concluding part of Ps. cii. is brought forward as spoken
directly to the Son : ' To the Son He saith, Thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy
hands,' etc.

It should be carefully remembered, however, in respect to the use made
of such passages, that the apostle is not appealing to them for the purpose
of proving that Jesus was the Messiah, or that He who became the Messiah
in the fulness of time originally brought the universe into being. The
apostle is writing to persons who understood and believed these points, —
believed both that Jesus wras the Christ, and that by Him, as God's Word
and Son, the worlds had been at first made, as well as redemption now
accomplished for a believing people. The question was, What honour and
respect might be due to Him as such ? and whether there was not a glory
in Him that overshadowed, and in a manner extinguished, the glory of all
preceding revelations 9 Now, for this purpose the passages referred to were
perfectly in point, and contained a testimony which must have been quite
valid with believing Hebrews. According to their belief also (in fact, they
could not have been in any proper sense Christians without having first
come to the belief that), the Messiah was, as to His divine nature, the Son
of God, and the immediate agent of Godhead in the creation of the world.
Hence, as a matter of course, the word, in the concluding portion of the
102d Psalm, addressed to God as the Creator, must have been held as im-

THE OLD TESTAMENT IX THE NEW. 407

;y applicable to the Son; it is of necessity His creative energy, ami
uncreated, unchangeable existence that is there more directly celebrated.

No one can doubt this who knows the relation of the Son to the Father as
the revealer of Godhead, in the works of creation and of providence. And,
in like manner, the 97th Psalm, which points to the manifestation of God's
p >wer and glory in the world, as goin;; to bring discomfiture on all the
worshippers of idols, and joy to the Church: — what believer can really
doubl that this was mainly to be accomplished in the person and the work
of Christ'/ Even Rabbinical writers have understood it of Messiah. There
is no other manifestation of God. either past or to come, fitted to produce
such results but the personal manifestation given in Christ ; and the call to
worship God, written in the psalm, was most properly connected with the
incarnation of the Divine Word. When by that event the First-begot tin
was literally brought into the world, there was the loudest matter-of-i
proclamation, calling upon all to worship Him. It was only then, indeed,
that the peculiar displays of divine power and glory began to be put forth,
which the psalm announces ; and the spiritual results it speaks of always
appear according as Christ comes to be known and honoured as the mani-
fested God.

But the use made in the second chapter of the eighth Psalm is thought
by some still more peculiar and difficult of explanation. For in that psalm
the glory of God is celebrated in the most general way, as connected with
the place and dignity of man upon the earth ; and how can it be produced
as a testimony f<>r < lnist ? But is it so produced ? As far as we can a
the apostle dors licit understand what is written in that psalm as pointing at
all, directly or exclusively, to Christ, lie is answering an objection, which,
though not formally proposed, yet was plainly anticipated aa ready to start
up in the minds of his readers, to what he had advanced concerning the
divine honour and glory due to Christ, as the Eternal Son of God, How-
ever He may be BO when Viewed Simply in respect to His divine nature, yet,
as know U to US, He was a man like ourselves ; yea, a man compassed about
with infirmity, and subject to suffering above the common lot of humanity :
and might not the consideration Of this detract somewhat from His dig-
nity? Might it not even be justly regarded as placing Him below the
angels? By no means, says the apostle, there is a glory of God connected
also with man's estate : the Psalmist was tilled with wonder and admiration

the imperfect indications he beheld of it in his day, regarding these as
pledges of t In- more complete realizations of it yet to come ; and it must I i
i/. d and perfected, not in connection with the nature of angels, but in
e mm ction with the nature of man. In allying Himself with man, the Son
of God, indeed, stooped for a time below the dignity of angels, but it ■
only that He might raise manhood to a higher position even than theirs;

lie made (iodhead incarnate, that He might, in a manner, deify humanity,
that is, raise it to a participation in His own peerless majesty and full

of ble sing. In a word, the Lordship of this world, which from the first .

lined for man, and the thought of which filled the Psalmist with rapturi
and astonishment, — this, in all its perfection and completeness, is still to

468 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

be the inheritance of redeemed man, because the Eternal Son, as Redeemer,
has, by becoming man, secured the title to it for Himself and as many as
are joined to Him by a living faith. So that Christ has lost nothing of His
proper glory by assuming the nature of man, but has simply made pro-
vision for a redeemed people sharing with Him in it.

It is in connection with this branch of the argument also that the apostle
refers to a passage in Isaiah, which has been thought not strictly applicable
to Christ. It is Isa. viii. 17, 18, where the prophet, in his own name or
another, says, ' I will wait (or trust) upon the Lord ; behold, I and the
children which the Lord hath given me, are for signs and wonders,' etc.
The prophet, it has been thought, speaks there of himself, and of his own
proper children, as specially raised up by the Lord, to encourage the people
to trust in the divine power and faithfulness for deliverance. That, how-
ever, is by no means so clear as some would have it. It is fully as probable
— and the opinion is certainly growing among commentators — that the
prophet rather rises here above himself and his children to those whom they
represented, — to the Angel of the Covenant, and His spiritual seed ; for he
says immediately before, ' Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my
disciples, and I will wait,' etc. AVho could speak thus of his disciples,
and command the testimony to be bound up ? Surely a higher than Isaiah
is there. But even supposing that the prophet spoke of himself, — supposing
that in what follows, at least in the words quoted here, he does speak of
himself and his own children, — yet, as these must unquestionably have been
viewed as personating the Immanuel and His spiritual offspring, the pas-
sage, even in that view of it, was a perfectly valid proof of the point for
which it is quoted. It plainly indicates a oneness of nature in the Head
and the members of the Lord's covenant people, and a common exposure to
the ills of humanity.

3. A third peculiarity, and one that has been thought still more cha-
racteristic of the Old Testament quotations in this epistle from those else-
where made in the New Testament, is, that they are uniformly taken from
the Septuagint (i.e. the old Greek translation of the Old Testament), even
where that differs materially from the original Hebrew. The New Testa-
ment writers generally, and the Apostle Paul in particular, very frequently
quoted from that version, because it was in common use in the synagogues,
and had acquired a kind of standard value. But they also, in many cases,
departed from it, when it did not give at least the general sense of the
original. This, however, is never done in the Epistle to the Hebrews ; the
Septuagint version is almost uniformly quoted from, whether it gives
or deviates from the exact meaning. Thus the words of the 97th Psalm,
rendered in ch. i. 6, ' Let all the angels of God worship Him,' are literally,
' Worship Him, all ye gods.' So again in the quotation from the eighth
Psalm in the second chapter, what is literally, ' Thou hast made him want
a little of God,' is given from the Septuagint, ' Thou hast made him a
little lower than the angels.' A still greater deviation occurs in ch. x. 5,
where the words from Psalm xh, which are in the original, ' Mine ears hast
Thou bored,' or opened, stand thus, ' A body hast Thou prepared me.'

THE OLD TESTAMENT IX THE NEW. 4C9

And once more, a passage taken from Habakkuk, in ch. x. 88, which,
according to the Hebrew, is, ' Behold, his soul is lifted ap, it is not upright
in him,1 appears in the much altered form of the Greek version, 'If any

man draw back, inv SOU] shall have DO pleasure in him.'

We omit other and less important variations. Those we have adduced
undoubtedly Bhow a close adherence to the Greek version, even where it is

doI strictly c irrectn At the same time, it is t<> be observed that nothing

in the way of argument is built upon the differences between that version
and the SYiginal; and the sentiment it expresses, so far as used by the
apostle, would not have been materially affected by a more literal transla-
tion. Indeed, in the last instance referred to, the pi- ige from the prophel
Habakkuk is not formally given SS a citation at all ; and as the order of
the clauses also stands differently in the epistle from what it does in the
Septuagint, so as to suit more exactly the object of the writer, we may
rather regard him as a lopting for his own what was found iii the
Septuagint, and giving it the sanction of his authority, than intending to
convey the precise sense of the ancient prophet. And, after all, it is only
a differently expressed, not by any means a discordant, sense from that of
the prophet. The swollen, puffed-up soul is not upright, or does not main-
tain the even course of integrity. When the prophet says this, he only
expresses more generally what id more fully and specifically intimated by
the apostle, when he speaks of such as draw back in times of trial, and
incur thereby the displeasure of God. The passage taken from the 10th
i m admits of a similar explanation. The apostle lays no stress upon
the words, 'A body hasl Thou prepared me;' he lays stress only on the
declared readiness of the speaker in the psalm to do the will i f God, by a
personal surrender to its requirements; and as to say, 'Mine ears hast
Thou Opened,1 means. Thou hast made me ready to listen tO all the demands

of Thy service; so 1 1 say, ' A body hast Thou prepared me,' is but to ex-
press the truth in a more general form, and to intimate that his body it

provided for the purpose of yielding the obedience required. The
difference is quite a superficial one as n g irds the vein of thoughl running
through tie ] assage. And such also is the case with the (it her (plot at ions,
in which the angels an- substituted for God or gods. It is plain that, in

such expressions SS, 'Worship Him, ye gods,1 and, 'Thou hast made him to

want but a little of God,1 something else than the supreme Jehovah is meanl
by the Elohim of the original, — it must denote more generally something
divine or divine-like in condition and dignity, whether esteemed such on

( ar:h, or actually such in the Ik aveiily places. And the aiiirds being the

inres nearesi to God that we are acquainted with, they were not un-
naturally regarded as substantially answering to the idea indicated in the
expression. Many. ( v. D of the most learned inter;. n Wis, still think that

I t t<> abide by the word uiii/i/.i in the passages referred to.

I. In conclusion, we shall make only two remarks, - the one more im-
medi ktely applicable to the peculiarity just noticed in this epistle, and the

other common to it with the New Testament generally, in rt jpeel to the

Of the Uld Testament ScriptUtf S.

470 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

The first is, that it perfectly consists with a profound regard to Scrip-
ture as given by inspiration of God, to employ a measure of freedom in
quoting it, if no violence is done to its general import. There are cases
in which much hangs on a particular expression ; and in these cases the
utmost exactness is necessary. In this very epistle a striking example is
furnished of the pregnancy of single words, in the comment made upon
those of the 110th Psalm, 'The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent,
Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek,' where every
expression is shown to be important. And it is not too much to affirm,
from such specimens of inspired interpretation, that the very words of
Scripture are to be held as bearing on them the stamp of the Spirit's
guidance. On the other hand, the free renderings adopted in other places
where it was enough to obtain the general import, teach us to avoid the
errors of superstitious Jews and learned pedants, and to be more anxious
to imbibe the spirit of Scripture, than to canonize its mere words and
letters. We must contend for every jot and tittle of the word, when the
adversary seeks, by encroaching on these, to impair or corrupt the truth of
God. But we are not absolutely bound up to that ; we may freely use
even a general or incomplete representation of its meaning, if by so doing
we are more likely to get a favourable hearing for the important truths it
unfolds. Correctness without scrupulosity should be the rule here, as in
the Christian life generally.

Our second remark is, that the chief thing necessary for enabling us to
go heartily along with the applications made, both here and elsewhere, of
the Old Testament in the New, is a correct apprehension of the relation
between the Jewish and the Christian dispensations. It is because the
inspired writers went so much farther in this respect than many of their
readers and commentators are disposed to do now, that the great difficulty
is experienced in sympathizing with this part of their writings. They saw
everything in the Old pointing and tending towards the manifestation of
God in Christ ; so that not only a few leading prophecies and more pro-
minent institutions, but even subordinate arrangements and apparently
incidental notices in matters connected with the ancient economy, were
regarded as having a significance in respect to Christ and the Gospel. No
one can see eye to eye with them in this, if he has been wont practically to
divorce Christ from the Old Testament. And in proportion as an intelligent
discernment of the connection between the two economies is acquired, the
course actually adopted by the New Testament writers will appear the more
natural and justifiable. Let there only be a just appreciation of the things
written and done in former times, as preparatory to the better things to
come in Christ, and there will be found nothing to offend even the science
and the taste of the nineteenth century in the principles of interpretation
sanctioned in the writings of the New Testament.

APPENDIX B.
THE DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE.— Pp. 216, 407.

In the text we have done little more than exhibit the somewhat peculiar
position which the doctrine of a future stale 1ms in the Scriptures of the
<>1<1 Testament. It is desirable, however, to present the subject in a fuller
light, and to consider both the state of opinion that prevailed respecting
it in heathen antiquity, and the relation in which the Old and the New
l stament Scriptures alike stand to it. We shall thus have an opportunity
of pointing out several erroneous views, as we conceive, that are still of
frequent occurrence in discussions upon the subject.

1. First of all, we look to the general fact — that somehow, and in some
t rm or another, a belief in the doctrine of the soul's immortality has
prevailed in nations which had only natural resources to guide them in
their religious views and tenets. We are not aware of any considerable
people, either in ancient or in modern times, of whom this might not be
affirmed; and among all nations that have reached any degree of intelli-
gence and civilisation, it is notorious that the doctrine has always held a

ignised and prominenl place, in the articles of popular belief . In do age
<>r country has a public religion existed, which did not associate with it the
prospect of a future state of happiness or misery as one of its leading ele-
ments and most influential considerations. So much is this the case, thai
the fear of the gods in heathen states was wry commonly looked upon as
identified with the expectation of good and evil in a life after the present ;
and the ancient legislators, who established, and the sages who vindicated,
the importance of religion, with one consent agree in deriving its main
virtue from the salutary hopes and terrors it inspired respecting the life to
come.1 We are perfectly entitled, therefore, from the existence and pre-
valence of religion among men. to inter, in a c Responding degree, the
existence and prevalence of a belief in the immortality of the soul, or its
destination in some form hereafter to a better or a worse state than belongs
to it here. And as nothing ever attains to the rank of a universal belief ,
or general characteristic of mankind, which is not rooted in some common
instinct of man's nature, we may further assert it as an undoubted fact,
that this idea of a future state is one that springs from the spiritual instinct!
wdiich belong to man as man : or, in the expressive language of Colerid
that ' its fibres are to be traced to the taproot of humanity.'

1 See Wurburton's Die. Leg, B. 111. § 1, for tliu proof of this; and Russell'.-,
Connection, wl. L p> 80S ■ q<

47'

4-72 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

Exceptions, no doubt, are to be found to it, even among those who
externally joined in the popular religion of their country ; but only in the
case of persons, or parties, who were unfavourably situated for the develop-
ment of their spiritual instincts, and who have seldom, in any age or
country, formed more than a small minority of their generation. Such an
exception, for example, appeared in the case of the Sadducees in the latter
days of the Hebrew commonwealth, — a sect small in point of numbers, and
one that sprang up, partly as a reaction from the superstitions and frivoli-
ties of Pharisaism, and partly from the spread of Grecian culture among
the richer and more ambitious classes in Judea. It was essentially a sect
of philosophy, and had drunk too deeply of the sceptical influences of
heathenism to be much impressed with any religious beliefs ; though its
repulsion to Pharisaism probably led it to take up more of an extreme posi-
tion in respect to them than it might otherwise have done. But it is im-
possible for any one to read the occasional notices given of the sect in
Josephus, without perceiving that, as a party, they habitually did violence
to the moral as well as the spiritual instincts of their nature ; that they
exhibited the usual characteristics of the infidel spirit, and would very
soon have ceased even from the profession of religion, if they had not been
surrounded by a religious atmosphere. So that they can scarcely be re-
garded as exceptions to the natural union of the religious sentiment with
the prospect of an hereafter; for the religious sentiment had but a shadowy
existence in their- bosom.

Substantially the same explanation is to be given of the views enter-
tained by individual writers, and by some whole sects of heathen philoso-
phers. Their intellectual culture unfitted them for sympathizing with tlie
popular forms, into which either the worship of the gods or the belief of a
future state of existence had thrown itself. They saw the grossness and
manifold absurdity of what had obtained the general assent, without having
anything of their own clearly defined and thoroughly ascertained to put in
its place ; and the inevitable result was, that many of them became scep-
tical on the whole subject of religion, and others wavered from side to side
in a kind of half -belief — sometimes giving utterance to the hopes and fears
that naturally sprang from the conviction of a Supreme Governor, and
again expressing themselves as if all heaven were a fable, and all futurity
a blank. It was not that nature in them wanted the spiritual instincts it
seems to possess in other men, or that these instincts failed to link them-
selves with the prospect of a future existence ; but that, situated as they
were, the instincts wanted appropriate forms in which to clothe their feel-
ings and expectations, and thus had either to hew out a channel of their
own for faith and hope to flow in (which they were often too weak to do),
or collapse into a state of painful uncertainty or sceptical disbelief.

This appears to us both a fairer and a more rational account of the state
of opinion prevalent among the more thoughtful and speculative part of
ancient heathens, than that given by Bishop Warburton, and argued anew
in recent times by Archbishop Whately. Warburton has laboured, with a
great profusion of learning, to show that all the ancient philosophers, with

THE DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STA'l E. 473

the exception of Socrates, were in their real sentiments disbelievers in ;i
future state of reward and punishment, and only taught it in their i coterie
writings as a doctrine profitable to the vulgar. We think it is impossible
to make <mt this by any fair interpretation of the better writings of heathen
antiquity, and without giving far too much weight to the explanations and
bemente <>f the later Sophists and Neo-Platonists, who arc no proper
authorities on such questions. The doctrine of the soul's immortality, and
of it- destination to a futon state of reward or punishment, comes out too
frequently in the higher and even more philosophical productions of the
ancients, to admit of being explained on the ground of a mere palterinj
vulgar superstition and prejudice. And both the frequency of its recur-
rence, and the variety of forms in which the belief is uttered, force on us
the conviction that the writers, in uttering it, often expressed the native sen-
timents of their hearts. But then the crude representations and incredible
absurdities with which the doctrine was mixed up in the only authoritative
form known to them, as often again drove them back from the ground they
s inclined to occupy, and set speculation, with her daughters, doubl
and uncertainty, wholly adrift. They could not fall in, heart and soul, with
what had been embodied in the religion of their country, and had estab-
lished itself in the popular belief ; and it was. therefore, perfectly natural,
that many inconsistencies on the subject should appear in their writings :
that they should be found retracting at one time what they seemed to have
iceded at another; and that in their recoil of feeling from the palpably
neous on one side, they should often have lost themselves in thick daik-
OU the other.
All this, however, is to be understood only of the more learned and
ulative portion of heathen antiquity; of those who either formally
ched tl b to Bomesect of philosophy, or were, to a certain ex-

tent, imbued with the spirit of philosophy. Such persons were manife
in the most unfavourable position for the free development of their spiritual
ii.ets. Policy alone, or a sense of public duty, led them to take any
j in defending the existence, or in observing the rites, of the prevailing
religion; so that they were continually doing the part of dissemblers and
hyp But, undoubtedly, they would not havedone in this res]

what they did. or avowed bo ■'('ten their belief in a moral government abi
and a state of recompense b fore them, unless these ideas had been inter-
woven with the established religion, and had come, through it, to pervade

minds of their countrymen. Warburton's declarations to this effect
may be i aided as substantially correct, when he lays down the position,
that a future state of rewards and punishments was not only taught and

•••I bj lawgivers, priests, and philosophers, but was also univer-
sally received by the people throughout the whole earth.1

Dr. Whately, however, who, in his Essay on tin Revelation <>/ <i Future

siat,. generally re-echoes, as before stated, the Bentiments of Warburton,

di cordant views on thi pari of the ubject Be to think

that the people generally had as little belief in the c. a future

1 DU-. Leg. B. Ill

474 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

state of reward and punishment as the philosophers. From an expression
in Plato, that ' men in general were highly incredulous as to the soul's
future existence,' he concludes it to have been ' notoriously the state of
popular opinion' at the time, that ' the accounts of Elysium and Tartarus
were regarded as mere poetical fables, calculated to amuse the imagination,
but unworthy of serious belief.' Let us test this conclusion by a parallel
declaration from a Platonic English philosopher — Lord Shaftesbury. This
nobleman, ridiculing the fear of future punishment as fit at best only for
the vulgar, adds regarding others : ' Such is the nature of the liberal,
polished, and refined part of mankind ; so far are they from the mere
simplicity of babes and sucklings, that, instead of applying the notion of a
future reward or punishment to their immediate behaviour in society, they
are apt much rather, through the whole course of their lives, to show evi-
dently that they look on the pious narrations to be indeed no better than
children's tales, and the amusement of the mere vulgar.' 1 This is, in fact,
a far stronger and more sweeping assertion of a general disbelief among
the learned now regarding the expectation of a future state, than that
made by Plato of the generality of men in ancient times ; but who would
think of founding on such a statement, though uttered with the greatest
assurance, as if no one could doubt what was said, a conclusion as to the
all but universal rejection by educated men in modern times of the Scripture
representations of the future world? Who does not know that the con-
clusion would be notoriously false ? But the inference drawn from the
remark of Plato rests on a still looser foundation. And indeed, if the
matter had been as Dr. Whately represents it, even in Plato's time, where
should have been the temptation to the philosophers who lived then and
afterwards, for so often speaking and writing differently, as is alleged,
from what they really thought, respecting the world to come ? They did
so, we are told, in accommodation to the popular belief — that is (if this
representation were correct), in accommodation to a belief which was
known to have had no actual existence.

Dr. Whately lays special stress in this part of his essay on the account
given by Thucydides, of the effects produced among the Athenians by the
memorable plague which ravaged the city and neighbourhood. Many at
first, the historian tells us, ' had recourse to the offices of their religion,
with a view to appease the gods ; but when they found their sacrifices and
ceremonies availed nothing against the disease, and that the pious and im-
pious alike fell victims to it, they at once concluded that piety and impiety
were altogether indifferent, and cast off all religious and moral obligations.'
' Is it not evident from this,' the Archbishop asks, ' that those who did
reverence the gods had been accustomed to look for none but temporal
rewards and punishments from them ? Can we conceive that men who
expected that virtue should be rewarded, and vice punished, in the other
world, would, just at their entrance into that world, begin to regard virtue
and vice as indifferent?' We take this to be an entire misapplication of
the historian's facts ; and a misapplication that has arisen from an error

1 Characteristics, vol. iii. p. 177.

THE DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE. 475

v tv prevalent among English theologians, and shared in by Archbishop
Whately, in the mode of contemplating the doctrine of a future recompense
— as if the expectation of a fu/urewere somehow incompatible with the

erience of ;i /'/■<■•< nt recompense. We shall have occasion to expose this
error by and by. Hat, meanwhile, we assert that such a dissolution of
manners and general lawlessness as took place at Athens under the awful
visitation Of the plague, and as always to some extent attends similar
calamities, is rather a proof of men's expecting a future state of reward
and punishment than the reverst — that is, of their doing so in their regular
ami ordinary State of mind, when they appear to pay some regard to virtue,
and to wait on the offices of religion. The recklessness of what may be
called their abnormal condition, bespeaks how much their normal one W8S
under the restraining ami regulating inlluence3 of fear and hope.

We hold it, then, as an established fact, that the expectation of a future
state of reward and punishment has been the general characteristic of men
in every age, wherever they have been so situated as to rind fi- 'to

the spiritual instincts of their nature. The general prevalence alone of
religious worship is a proof of it ; for religion, whether in the nation or tie
individual, h;us never long flourished, — it soon languishes and expires, when
divorced from the belief of a coming state of happiness or misery. The
expectation, no doubt, of such a state, in all heathen forms of belief, has
never faded to connect itself with many grievous errors, especially as to
the mode of existence in the future world, and the kinds of reward and
punishment that have been anticipated. Tin ri human reason ami con-
ire have always proved miserable guides; and the doctrines of the
metempsychosis, souls passing from one fleshly form to another, the higher
doctrine of the absorption into the divine unity, and the fables of Tartan;-,
and Elysium, were but so many efforts on the part of the human mind to
give distinct shape and form to its expectations of the future. These
efforts were necessarily abortiva And the facts of the case will bear us no
farther in the righl direction, than in enabling us to assert the prevalence

of a widespread, well-nigh universal belief of a future existence, mainly
depending for the good or evil to he experienced in it, on the conduct

itaimd during tie- present life. But so far, we are thoroughly satisfied,

lie y do bear US.

Before leaving this point, we must be allowed to say that there is a
manifest unfairness iu the way in which the sentiments of heathen antiquity,

cially ot its more profound thinkers, are wry commonly represented by

Warburton and his followers. This is particularly apparent iu the use thai

i made of the alleged secret doctrine amongst them. It cannot lie denied
that their writings contain strong statements in favour of a future state;
but then, it is affirmed, these were only the writings thai contained their
exoteric doctrines: their real, or more strictly philosophical ami esoteric
doctrines, must be sought elsewhere. In this way the whole argumentation
in Plato's J'fiinh goes for nothing, because that, it is alleged, belonged to
the exoteric class, or his writings for the vulgar. A strange sort of vulgar
it must have been, that could be supposed to enter with relish into the line

476 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

of argumentation pursued in that discourse ! We should like also, on that
supposition, to see the line described that separates, as to form and style,
between the philosophical and the popular, the esoteric and the exoteric,
in ancient writings. But the ground for such a distinction at all has been
enormously exaggerated, and was very much the invention of the later
Platonists. Recent criticism has come to a different mind : thus, Professor
Brandis, in the article on Plato in Smith's Dictionary, treats ' the assump-
tion of a secret doctrine as groundless ; ' and the late Professor Butler
holds the division of Plato's dialogues into exoteric and esoteric to be a
mere hypothesis. — (Lect. vol. ii. p. 33.) We cannot but reckon it unfair,
also, in regard to Cicero, the next great writer of antiquity who has treated
at large of the question of the soul's immortality, to set against his deli-
berate and formal statements on the subject, a few occasional sentences
culled from his private letters, and but too commonly written when, the
calamities of life had enveloped him in gloom and despondency. In the
first book of the Tusculan Disputations, c. 15, he enunciates both his own and
the general belief, as one growing out of the rational instincts of humanity;
and we have no reason to question the sincerity of the statement : Nescio
quomodo, inlimret in mentibus quasi seculorum quoddam augurium futurorum ;
idque in maximis ingeniis, altissimisque animis, et existit maxime, et apparet
facillime. He ridicules, indeed, the popular belief about Hades, as con-
trary to reason, and says enough to indicate how much of darkness and
uncertainty mingled with his anticipations of the future ; but the belief
itself of a state of being after the present is never disparaged or denied, but
rather clung to throughout. It admits, however, of no doubt, that in the
age of Cicero the general tone of society at Rome among the more refined
and influential classes was deeply tinctured with infidelity. The sceptical
spirit of the later philosophy of Greece, which regarded nothing as true,
except that everything was involved in uncertainty, had become exten-
sively prevalent among the rulers of the world. And such public disclaimers
respecting the future punishments of Hades as are to be found in Caesar's
speech against Catiline, ascribed to him by Sallust, or in Cicero's oration
for Cluentius, and the nox est perpetua, una dormienda, of the loose but
refined epicurean Catullus (on which Dr. Whately lays stress), are no more
to be regarded as fair indications of the general belief of heathendom, than
the infidel utterances of the French philosophers of last century are to be
taken as just representations of the general belief of Christendom.

2. Let us proceed, however, in the next place, to look at the natural
grounds for this belief.

And here, at the outset, we are to bear in mind a truth which is often
verified in respect to men's convictions and judgments, as well in secular
matters as in those of a moral and spiritual kind, viz. that a belief may
be correctly formed, or a fact may be truly stated, and yet the reasons
assigned for it in individual cases may be, if not absolutely wrong, at least
very inadequate and inconclusive. It was the advice of a learned judge
to a man of much natural shrewdness and sagacity, when appointed to a
judicial function in the colonies, to give his decisions with firmness, but to

THE DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE. 477

withhold the reasons on which they were grounded; for in all probability
the decisions wonld bo right, while the reasons wouhl be incapable ol
standing a close examination. We need not wonder, therefore, if in the
higher field of religious thought and inquiry — if, especially, in respect to
those anticipations which men are prompted to form respecting a future
existence — anticipations originating in the instincts of their rational nature,
and nourished by a uivat variety of thoughts and considerations insensibly
working upon their minds, both from within and from without, — when
they began to reason out the matter in their own minds, they should often
have rested their views OD partial or erroneous grounds. This is what has
actually happened, both in ancient and in modern times.1

If we look, for example, into the most systematic ami far-famed treat •
which has come down to US from heathen antiquity on this subject— the
Phaado of Plato — we can scarcely help feeling some surprise at the manifest

taiieit'ulness of SOineof the reasons advanced for a future state of existence.

and their utter ^conclusiveness as a whole. It is the greatest of Grecian
a who is re] n » uted as unfolding them — Socrates; Socrates, too, when

:i the very eve of his in.i . . 1 1 lom ; and his thoughts have the advantage of
being developed by one of the greatest masters of reasoning, and the very
- of dialectical skill, of whom antiquity could boast. But
what are the arguments adduced? There are altogether five. The first is
the soul's capacity and desire for knowledge, beyond what it can ever attain
to in the present life : for, at present, it is encumbered on every side by the
body, and obliged to spend a large portion of its time and resources in pro-
viding for bodily wants ; bo that it can never penetrate, as it desires, into
the real nature and of things, and can even gel very imperfectly

acquainted with their phenomenal appearances. Hence the soul being made
for the aequisiti if knowledge, and having capacities for making indefinite

progress in it, there must be a future state of being where, in happier eii -

cumstances, the end of its b ing in this respect shall be realized. The

■ t'd argument is fl the law of contraries — according to which tin

in nature are ever producing their opposites— rest issuing in labour, and
labour again in rest — heat terminating in cold, and cold returning to heat —
unity resolving itself into plurality, and plurality into unity; — and so, since

Life terminates in death, death must in turn come back to life; not, however,

through the body which p. but in the soul itself that survives it.

Then, thirdly, there are the soul's reminiscences of a previous life, by which
are meant the ideas which it possesses other than those it has derived from
the five senses — such as of matter and Space, cause ami effect, truth and
duty, — ideas which, it is supposed, must have been broughl by the soul

from a previous state of existence ; and if it has air. ady pa ed out

State of e\i in coming into this world, the natural supposition i-.

that in having it the soul shall again pass into another. The simple and
indivisible nature of the soul is advanced as a fourth argument for im-
mortality;— the sold in its essence is not, Like bodily Substances, com-
pounded, divisible, and hence corruptible, but Is itself, hke the ideas it

' p

478 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

apprehends, immaterial, spiritual, incapable of change or dissolution into
other elements. Then, lastly, there is the consideration of the soul's
essential vitality, being the principle of life that animates and supports the
body, and which, like the element of heat in material substances, may
leave its former habitation, but must still retain its own inherent pro-
perties— must be vital still, though the body it has left necessarily falls
into inertness, corruption, and death.

Such are the arguments advanced in this celebrated discourse for the
soul's immortality — every one of them, it will be observed, except the first,
of a metaphysical nature ; though toward the close a kind of moral ap-
plication is made of them, by urging the cultivation of mental, as opposed
to sensual, desires and properties. 'On account of these things,' Socrates
is made to say, ' a man ought to be confident about his soul, who during
this life has disregarded all the pleasures and ornaments of the body as
foreign to his nature, and who, having thought they do more harm than
good, has zealously applied himself to the acquirement of knowledge, and
who, having adorned his soul, not with a foreign, but with its own proper
ornament, temperance, justice, fortitude, freedom, and truth, thus waits
for his passage to Hades, as one who is ready to depart whenever destiny
shall summon him.' The meaning is, not that the enjoyment of immor-
tality depends upon the cultivation of such tendencies and virtues, — for
the reasons are all derived from the soul's inherent nature, and if good for
anything are good for every one who possesses a soul, — but that, by being
so exercised here, the soul becomes ready for at once entering on its better
destiny ; while in the case of others, a sort of purgatory has first to be
gone through — processes of shame and humiliation to detach it from the
grosser elements that have gained the ascendency over it. But in regard
to the arguments themselves, who would now be convinced by them ?
There is manifestly nothing in that derived from the law of contraries ; for
in how many things does it not hold ? how many evils in nature appear to
issue in no countervailing good ? Neither is there anything in that derived
from the supposed reminiscences of a former life — there being in reality no
such reminiscences. And the reason found in the soul's essential vitality
is a simple begging of the question ; for, apart from what has appeared of
this in its connection with the body, what is known of it? What proof
otherwise exists of the soul's vitality ?

Of the two remaining arguments, the one placed in the soul's simple
and indivisible nature has often been revived. Not only does it recur in
Cicero, among the ancients, and in such modern metaphysical productions
as those of Clarke and Cudworth ; but the sagacious Bishop Butler also
makes use of it in his Analogy, and puts it, perhaps, in its least objection-
able form. Dr. Thomas Brown even lays the chief stress on it : ' The mind,'
he contends, ' is a substance, distinct from the bodily organ, simple, and
incapable of addition or subtraction.' That is his first proposition ; and
his next is, ' Nothing which we are capable of observing in the universe
has ceased to exist since the world began.' The two together, he conceives,
establish the conclusion, so far as analogy can have influence, that ' the

THE DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE. 479

mind does not perish in the dissolution of the body.' And he adds: In
judging according to the mere light of nature, it is on the hnmaterialism of

the thinking principle that I consider the belief of its immortality to be
most reasonably founded; since tin- distinct existence of a spiritual sub-
Btance, if that be admitted, renders it incumbent on the assertei <>f the
8oul*s mortality to assign some reason which may have led the only Being
who has tin- power of annihilation, to exert His power in annihilating the

mind, which He is Bald, in that ease, to have created only for a few years

of life.' As-if then- were here no alternative between die annihilation of
ntbstana of mind, and the destruction of iteexistena ami identity as a
living ll ! Tlie matter of the body, it LB true, is not annihilated at

death ; the particles of which it is composed still continue to exist, but not
surely as the component elements <>f an organized structure. In that
respect the body is destroyed, — as far as our present observation gi
annihilated. And why may it not be so in respect to the mind'/ Allow-
that this is an immaterial substance, and as such, essentially different from
the body ; yet, for aught we can tell, it might be capable of being resolved
into some condition as far from a continuation of its present state, as that
of the dead body is in respect to its living state. The phenomena of swoons
and sleep clearly show that immateriality is no security against the suspen-
sion of thought and consciousness ; and who shall be able to assure us, on
merely natural considerations, that death is not a <!t>lructi<>i< of them?

In truth, no sure footing can be obtained here on metaphysical grounds.
It was the error and misfortune of the ancient philosophers — so far we
certainly agree with Bishop Warburton ' — that they suffered themselves to
i>e determined by metaphysical rather than by moral arguments on the
subject ; for this naturally took off their minds from the considerations that
have real weight, and involved them in many absurd and subtle specula-
tions, which could not stand with the soul's personal existence hereafter.

When he excepts Socrates from the number, and accounts for his firm belief

in a future state on the ground of his avoiding metaphysical and adhering

only to moral studies, he certainly gives US a very different view of the

soningsof Socrates on the subject from that presented in Plato. And
we are persuaded thai neither was Socrates so singular in bis belief, nor

the othi rs bo universal in their disbelief, of a future state, as Warburton

WOUld have OS IX) believe. Bat, Undoubtedly, there would have been far
more of bl lief among them, if their reasonings had taken less of a mi
physical direction, and they had looked more to those moral COnsiderationE

connected with man's nature and God's government, on which the stay of
the argument should alone be placed.

I.« t OS now endeavour to indicate briefly the different steps of the
"ination, which it is possible for unassisted nature, when rightly

directed, to take in the way of establishing the belief of the bouTb exi '

i nee after death in a state of reward or punishment.

(1.) First of all. there is an argument furnished by the analogies of
ire. — an argument partly, indeed, of a .-imply negative character, ami

1 Die. Leg. B. III. § l.

480 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

amounting to nothing more than that, notwithstanding the visible pheno-
mena of death, the soul may survive and pass into another state of painful
or blessed consciousness. For, however nearly connected the soul is with
the body, it still is capable of many things that argue the possibility of its
maintaining a separate and independent existence. Bodily organs may be
lost — even great part of the body be reduced to an inactive lump by
paralysis, while the mind exists in full vigour. In dreaming, and the
exercise of abstract thought, there is sometimes found the most lively
exercise of mind, when its connection with the body is the slightest, and,
as far as we can discern, mind alone is at work. Why may it not, then,
live and act when it is altogether released from the body — especially when
we see the period of its release is often the moment of its highest perfec-
tion and most active energy? Those preceding analogies render it not
unreasonable to imagine that such at least may be the case.

Besides, life here is seen to move in cycles. It proceeds from one stage
to another — each end proving only the starting-point of a new beginning.
Man himself exists in two entirely different conditions — before and after
birth ; and throughout his whole course of life on earth he is perpetually
undergoing change. Other creatures have still more marked changes and
progressions in their career. Thus in many insects there is first the egg,
then the worm, then the chrysalis, then the fully developed insect. And
there are cases (of Aphides) in which as many as six or eight generations
of successive change and development pass away, before a return is made
to the original type. Such things appearing in the present operations
of nature, afford, indeed, no positive proof that life in man is destined to
survive the body, and enter on a sphere entirely different from the present ;
but they are well fitted to suggest the thought — and they meet the objec-
tion, which might not unnaturally arise, when the thought was suggested,
from the great diversity necessarily existing between the present and that
supposed future life. For they show that it is part of the divine plan to
continue life through very different circumstances and conditions.

It is manifest, however, that such analogies in nature cannot be pressed
farther than this, — they simply render possible or conceivable the soul's
destination to another life, and answer objections apt to arise against it ;
but they contain no positive proof of the fact. Indeed, proceeding as they
do upon the constitution of man's physical nature, and what is common to
him with the inferior creation, they start the objection on the other side —
that if on such grounds immortality might be predicated of man, it might
also be predicated of all animals alike. But there is another class of
analogies, to which this objection does not apply, which bring out the
essential difference between man and the inferior animals ; and are not
simply negative in their character, but contain something of presumptive
evidence in favour of a future state, closely connected with the present.
The analogies in question are those presented by the adaptations so largely
pervading the divine administration on earth, by means of which every
being and every part of being is wisely fitted to its place and condition.
We see this adaptation in the construction of the organs of the human

THE DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE. 4S1

body, — the eye, the oar, the taste, the limbs, — all so nicely adjusted to the

tions they occupy, both in respect to the human frame itself, and to the
purposes they have t > - rye in conm ction with tin- material objects around
them. Wesee it in tin- masticating and digestive apparatus with which
the various kinds of animals are furnished, — one after one fashion, another

r another, but each priately suited to the nature and habits

of the specific animal, and the kind of aliment required for its supp
We Bee it even in the general condition of the inferior creation, which is so
ordered in the great majority of instances, that each living creature gets

the measure <>f g 1 of which it is capable, and with which it is satisfied.

And then there are prospective contrivances in connection with all animal
natures, — contrivances formed at one Btage of their existence, and pre-
paring them for entering upon and enjoying another still before them, —
such as the eyes that are already fashioned in the foetus, and the Becond
row of teeth that lie for a time buried in the mouth of the child, and
spring up only when tiny are required.

Now. when we turn to man with his large capacities and lofty aspira-
tions,— growing and rising as 1m- proceeds through life, but still capable of
indefinite expansion, and conscious of desires that can find no satisfaction
In re, — does it not impress itself on our minds, that there would be some-
thing anomalous — at variance with the analogies everywhere appearing
around us — if man, so formed and constituted, should terminate his exist-
ence on earth ? He would, in that case, be the only creature that might

ii out of j. lace in the world, and that always the more, the higher he
rose in the scale of intelligence ami purity: in him alone there would b,e
powers implanted, which Beemed to fail of their proper end and object.

brute arrives •■!' a point of perfection that he can never pass : in a few

rs lie ha> all the endowments lie is capable of : and were he to live ten
thousand more, would be the same thing he is at pi Were a human

1 thus at a stand in her accomplishments, were her faculties to be full
blown, and incapable of further enlargements, I could imagine it might fall

away insensibly, and drop at once into a State Of annihilation. Bui can

we believe a thinking being, thai is in a perpetual p of improve-

ments, and travelling on from perfection to perfection, after having just
looked abroad into the worl Creator, and made a few discoveries of

His infinite goodness, wisdom, and power, musl perish at her first setting
out. ami iii the vei y beginning of her inquiries V Would an infinitely wise
ag make such glorious creati > mean a purpose? Can He delight

in such abortive intel] h short-lived reasonable beings? How

ran we find that w i dom, which all His works in tie' forma-

tion of man, without looking on this world 8S only a QUI X ry for the next,

and believing that tl I ms of rational creatures, which i

up and disappear is quick sue,-, ion, are only to receive the rudi-

ments ot' their existence here, and afterwards to he transplanted into a
more friendly climate, \\ here they may flourish to all eternity ? ' 1

'Add! ■!>, in .Vy. ■ ! rf.No.lll. 'I'll' • Bclraen

lliryandi ; -balanced judgment which enabled A'ldi.iuu

VOL. I. 2 H

482 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

This argument might be presented as one merely arising out of the
general law of adaptation, aud is so presented by Dr. Chalmers in his
Institutes. But it is the analogies connected with that law which give it
all its power to awaken any presumption in favour of a future state of
being for man, as separate and distinct from the inferior creation ; for the
presumption arises on the contemplation of the apparent discrepancy
between man's present condition and his present capacities, viewed in the
light of analogous arrangements in providence. Tt properly belongs, there-
fore, to the argument from analogy, and shows how that argument is
capable also of assuming a positive form. It bears, too, quite appositely
on the real state of the question,— which is not, as Bishop Butler and most
others in his day seemed to think, whether the soul is naturally and essen-
tially immortal ; but whether we are warranted to conclude it to be the
will and design of God, as indicated in our own natures and His govern-
ment of the world, that it should have a prolonged existence in a future
state, different from, yet closely connected with, the present.

(2.) A second and still stronger ground for the general belief in such
a state is furnished by the actings of conscience. For it belongs to this
faculty to pronounce authoritatively on what men should and should not
do, and to record in the secret chambers of the breast sentences of approval
or condemnation, according as the things done are perceived to have been
right or wrong. But there is always a felt incompleteness about these
judgments of the moral faculty, viewed simply by themselves ; and they
rather indicate that the things so judged are fit subjects of reward and
punishment, than that they have thereby received what is properly due.
In short, the authority of conscience, by its very nature, stands related to
a higher authority, whose will it recognises, whose verdict it anticipates.
And, as Bishop Butler justly remarks concerning it in his sermons, ' if not
forcibly stopt, it naturally and always of course goes on to anticipate a
higher and more effectual sentence which shall hereafter second and affirm
its own.'

It is from the powerful sway that conscience has in awakening such
anticipations, and its tendency to connect its own awards with those of a
righteous lawgiver, that we are to account for the predominantly fearful
and gloomy character of men's native thoughts respecting a future state.
There is much in their natural condition to dispose them, when looking
forward to another region of existence, to clothe the prospect in the most
agreeable and fascinating colours, that they might find in it an effectual
counterbalance to the manifold troubles of life, and a support amid the
approaching agonies of death. But the reverse is so much the case, that

often to seize on thoughts that had escaped profound thinkers. He introduces the
argument merely as a 'hint that he had not seen opened and improved by others
who had written on the subject,' and as something subsidiary to the reasons derived
from the essence and immateriality of the soul, which were then chiefly pressed.
Bishop Butler contents himself with those current reasons, and has in consequence
left his chapter on a future life the most imperfect and unsatisfactory of his whole
book.

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW. 483

it is the apprehension, rather than the expectation, of a future "state which
the belief of immortality most commonly awakens. And the vividness with
which the mind of heathen antiquity pictured to itself the punishments of
Tartarus, appear Btrangi ly contrasted with the dim and ghost-like pleasures
of Elysium. A ready explanation of this peculiarity presents itself in the
common operations of conscience, in which the notes of condemnation, if
not more frequent, are at Least greatly more distinct and impressive, than
b of satisfaction ; and hence, as in glancing upwards, its sense of guilt
naturally osvoke the idea of an offended deity, requiring to be appeased by
the blood of sacrifice, so in pointing forward, its sentences of reproof not

less naturally cast ominous shadows before them, and threw a BOmbre and

forbidding aspect over the coining eternity.

The convictions thus produced in men's minds respecting a future wi i Id

ly the natural workings of conscience, it is plain, involve the recognition

of a moral government of the world, and one that is accompanied with
sanctions which are destined to take effect in a state of being after the
present. It is, if we may so speak, on the background of such a govern-
ment with such sanctions, that conscience raises in the bosom its fore-
bodings of a judgment to come. — Nor, indeed, on any other ground could
it beget either fear or hope for the future.

(:!.) I Jut closely connected with this, and strongly corroborative of the
argument it affords for a coming existence after the present, is the evidence
that appears of a moral government in the actual course of things, — a
government accompanied by present sanctions. And this we announce as

a third, and, upon the whole, the most tangible and convincing, reason

for the anticipation of a future state of retribution. But here it will be

y to go into some detail, as it is in connection with this part i E the
unenl that divines in this country have most commonly erred, ami. by
a Btrange inversion, have sought for proof of a future state of retribut
rather in the /»< qualitu s of the divine government, or its apparent want of
moral rectitude and present sanctions, than in what it possesses of these.
Thus it is mentioned by •'. remy Taylor, in his sermon on the death of Sir

George Dalston, as < of the things 'which God has competently tan

to all mankind, thai I he Boul of man does aol die ; that though things may
be ill here, yet to the good, who usually feel most of the evils of this life,

they should end in honour and advantages. When virtue,' he adds, 'made
man pour, and free Bpeaking of brave truths made the wise to lose their

liberty; when an excellent life hastened an opprobrious death, and the

obeying reason and our < Bcience 1" I us our lives, or at least all tho

means ami conditions of enj them, — it was luit time to look about for

another state of things, where jt bould rule, and virtue find her own

portion.' The want of justice here, and virtu, 's bereavement of her proper
reward, is thus represent I as the main reason and Impelling motive for
anticipating a b te of things hereafter. And a long array of similar

representations might be produced from the works of English moralists and
theologians.

Uut we would rather point to the manifestation of this error — the err ir

484 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

of overlooking the connection between a present and a future recompense
— as exhibited in a more doctrinal form, and with a more direct injustice
to the character of Scripture, by those who have treated of the religious
tenets and prospects of the Jews. Not uufrequently do we find the one
presented as the antithesis of the other — as if the expectation of a future
recompense could only begin to take 'effect when the other began to give
way. This is done in the coarsest manner by Spencer, in his work, De Leg.
Hi braeorum (L. I. c. vi.), where it is alleged, the ancient Israelites were so
gross and sensual, so addicted to the flesh and the world, as to be incapable
of being moved by anything but present rewards and punishments ; and —
which is but another modification of the same view — since idol-worship
owed its influence chiefly to the expectations of present good or ill, which
its imaginary deities were supposed to have at their command, so the
tendency to idolatry among the Israelites required to be met by temporal
threatenings and promises. As if God were willing by any sort of means
to attach men to His service, and were content to fight idolatry with its
own weapons, provided only He could induce His people to render Him a
formal and mercenary homage ! The view of Warburton, as usual, differs
only in a slight degree from Spencer's. It proceeds on the idea, that down
to the later periods of the Jewish commonwealth, everything was admini-
stered by what he calls an extraordinary providence of present rewards and
punishments, which supplied the place of the yet undiscovered and alto-
gether unknown future world ; and that in proportion as the extraordinary
providence broke down, the belief of a future state of reward and punish-
ment rose in its stead. Dean Graves, in his work on the Pentateuch,
follows much in the same track, although he would not so absolutely ex-
clude the belief of a future world from the remoter generations of God's
people. Among the secondary reasons which he assigns for the employ-
ment of merely temporal sanctions to the law, he mentions 'the intellectual
and moral character of the Jewish nation, which was totally incapable of
that pure and rational faith in the sanctions of a future state, without
which these sanctions cannot effectually promote the interests of piety and
virtue. Their desires and ideas being confined to the enjoyments of a
present world, they would pay little attention to the promises of a future
retribution, which they could never be sure of being fulfilled.' — (Works,
ii. p. 222.) No doubt, (/"their desires and ideas were, and must have been,
confined to a present world ; — but why such a necessity? Would it not
have been the most likely way to give their desires and ideas a loftier direc-
tion, to lay open to their view something of the good and evil to be
inherited in the world to come ? And if it had consisted with the divine
plan to impart this, is it to be imagined that the Israelites, who were so
immeasurably superior to all the nations of antiquity in the knowledge of
divine truth, should on this point alone have been incapable of enter-
taining ideas which the very rudest of these were found in some measure
to possess ?

But not to spend further time in the disproof of a notion so mani-
festly weak and untenable, we must refer more particularly to what Dean

THE DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE. 485

Graves, in common with many British divines, regards as the g] m

for the silence observed by M oses in respeel to a future state. 'I contend,'
he says (Works, ii. p. 208), 'that the reality of an extraordinary provi-
dence {i.e. an administration of present rewards and punishments) being
established by unquestioned authority, and by the general nature of the
code, we can thence satisfactorily account for the omission of a
future sanction, and that this is the only way in which it can be account d
fur.' That is, tin- / administration of rewards and punishments is
the only way of accounting for th nission of futun rewards and punish-
ments! This might li .:■. i said with Borne degree of truth, if it had

a meant, that through tl at the future might be descried; but

not in ti understood by Mr. Graves, as if tl ne had been to some

extent incompatible with the other. The truth and reality of the temporal
sanction should rather have been viewed as the necessary foundation and
undoubted evidence of a future retribution. On this point Hengstenberg
forcibly remarks, ' Where this foundation — that, namely, of a moral govern-
ment on earth, a temporal recompense — is not laid, there the building of
a faith in immortality is raised on .-and, and must fall before the first blast.
He who does not recognise the I I recompense, must necessarily find

in his heart a response to the scoff of Vanini at the revelation, '"which
indeed promises retributions for good and bad actions, but only in the life
to come, lest the fraud should be discovered." There is to be found in
Barth on Claudian, p. 1078 seq., a rich collection from heathen authors, in
which despair as to a future recompense is raised on the ground of unbelief
aa to a present one. And does not the history of our own age render it
clear and palpable how closely the two must hang together ? The doubt
t'nM directed against the temporal recompense; and it seemed as it' the
tx lief of immortality was going to rise, in consequence of this very misap-
prehension, to a higher significance and greater stability. Supranatural-

Ives, such as Knapp and Steudel, derived one of

ir leading proofs of a future retribution from deficiencies of the present
one. But the real coi was nol long in discovering itself. The

doctrini 'id, driven from the lower region, could nol long main-

tain its ground in the higher. 1 ie manifest that the hope of immor-

tality had fed itself with its own heart's blood. "If ye enjoy not such a
th," says Richter justly, according to the conceptions of
"God is by no means truly righteous, and you lind yourselves
in opposition to your own doctrine." Where the sentimenl thai the worlds

tory is a worlds judgment, is first of all heartily received in the true,
the scriptural sense, there the advance becomes certain and inevitable to
faith in the (final) judgment of the world.'— (Pen*, ii. p. &78.)

Lier and more appalling illustrations than those referred to in this
-. might have been produ 1 of the certainty with which disbelief in

a present tends to beget di.-belief also in a future r open \ In those

gnat and sweeping calamities in wdiieh all distinctions Beem to be lost
between the good and the bad, all alike standing in jeopardy of life, or
ruthlessly mowed down by the destroyer, it is seldom long till ;i general

48G THE T1T0L0GY OF SCRIPTURE.

relaxation of principle, and even total regardlessness of future consequences,
comes to prevail. It seems at such times as if the very foundations of
religion and virtue were destroyed, and nothing remained but a selfish
and convulsive struggle for the interests of the moment : ' Let us eat and
drink, for to-morrow we die.' This is the right reading of the account
given by Thucydides of the plague at Athens, formerly adverted to, in
which the historian tells us, ' Men were restrained neither by fear of the
gods, nor by human law ; deeming it all one whether they paid religious
worship or not, since they saw that all perished alike, and not expecting
they should live till judgment should be passed on their offences here.'
Similar visitations in later times have always been observed to produce
similar effects, excepting where religious principle has been so deeply
rooted and so generally diffused, as to triumph over present appearances.
During the plague of Milan in 1630, deeds of savage cruelty and wholesale
plunder were committed that would never have been thought of in ordi-
nary times. Even in London during the great plague in 1665, while there
were not wanting proofs of sincere devotion and living principle, there
was also a terrific display of the worst passions of human nature. And
of times of pestilence generally, Niebuhr says in one of his letters, ' They
are always those in which the animal and the devilish in human nature
assume prominence.1 The lurid light reflected from such apparent tem-
porary suspensions of God's moral government, abundantly shows what
results might be anticipated, if its ordinary sanctions did not exist, and
the present recompenses of good and evil were withdrawn. It would no
longer be the utterance merely of the fool, but the general sentiment of
mankind, that there is no God — none judging in the earth now, and there-
fore none to judge in eternity hereafter. For, as Hengstenberg remarks
again, ' What God does not do here, neither will He do hereafter. If He
is indeed the living and the righteous God, He cannot merely send forth
letters of credit for blessing, nor terrify with simple threatenings of future
evil' l

The ground on which we here rest the natural expectation of a future
state of reward and punishment, is precisely that which has been so solidly
laid by Bishop Butler in the second and third chapters of his Analogy ;

i How strongly the more thinking portion of heathen antiquity clung to the
doctrine of a retributive providence as the abiding ground of hope amid appearances
fitted to shake it, may be seen alone from the train of argument pursued by Juvenal
in his 13th Book, where, treating of the prosperities of bad men, he finds consola-
tion in the thought that they suffer from the inflictions of an evil conscience, itself
the heaviest of punishments ; that hence, things naturally pleasant and agreeable,
such as delicious food and wines, fail to give them satisfaction ; that their sleep is
disturbed ; that they are frightened with thunder and disease, seeing in such things
the signs of an offended deity ; and that they go on to worse stages of iniquity, till
tliey are overwhelmed with punishment; and concludes, that if these things are
considered,

Poena guadebis amara

Numinis invisi tandemque fatebere tetus,

Nee surdum, nee Tiresiam quemquam esse Deorum.

THE DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE. 487

and it may well excite our wonder, that especially English divine?, who
must be well acquainted with the train of thought there pursued, should
suppose an extraordinary providence, or an exact distribution of reward
and punishment op earth, to militate against either the revelation or the
belief of a future state. It is simply the want, the apparent or real want,
i temporal distributions in the usual course of provi-
dence, which mars the completeness of Butler's argument. Yet, as things

tally stand, he does not hesitate to draw from the present aspect and
constitution of providence the following conclusions: — First, That the
Author of nature is no! indifferent to virtue and vice; secondly, That if
God should reward virtue and punish vice, as such, so that every one may
upon the whole have his deserts, this distributive justice would not be a
thing dim-rent in kind, but only in degree, from what we experience in
His present government. It would be that in effect, toward which we
now see a / It would be no more than the completion of that

moral government, the principles and beginning of which have been shown,
beyond all dispute, discernible in the present constitution and course of
nature. And from hence it follows, thirdly, That as, under the natural
government of God, our experience of those kinds and degrees of happi-
ness and misery which we do experience at present, gives just ground to
hope for and to fear higher degrees and other kinds of both in a future
state, supposing a future state admitted ; so, under His moral government,
our experience that virtue and vice are actually rewarded and punished at
present, in a certain degree, gives just ground to hope and to fear thai
tiny may be rewarded and punished in a higher degree hereafter. And
there is ground to think that they actually trill be so, from the good and
ba I tendencies of virtue and vice, which are essential, and founded in the
nature of things ; whereas the hindrances to their becomin<_r effect are, in
numberless cases, not necessary, but artificial only. And it is much more
likely that those tendem a ell as the actual rewards and punishments

of virtue and vice, which arise directly out of the nature of things, will
remain hereafter, than that the accidental hindrances of them will.

The solid foundation which these considerations lay for the expectation
of a future state of reward and punishment, and which, growing out of
the observation of what is constantly taking place here, must be felt in
thou IS that never thought of turning it into the form of an

argument, is entirely overlooked by Archbishop Whately in tin' essay for-
merly referred to. He does not, indeed, like Warburton and Graves, place
the temporal rewards and punishments in direct antagonism to the dis-

ure of a future state- • but neither does he make any account of the one
as constituting a pro] er ground for tin- expectation of the other, and form-
ing a kind of natural stepping-stone to it. His line of argument rather
implies that it would have the reverse tendency, and that tin- Jews wen-
only prepared to receive the doctrine of immortality when their present
temporal blessings ceased (§ 10). He deems it absolutely incredible that
the [snw lites, as a people, should have looked for an after state of being,

ing that their attention was so very rarely, if at all, directed to such u

488 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

state, and seeing also that they so seldom believed what was of much easier
credence — the temporal promises and threatenings held out to them. The
presumption against it he thinks greatly strengthened by the difficulty still
experienced in getting people to realize the prospect of a future world, not-
withstanding the comparative clearness and frequency with which it is
pressed on their notice in the Gospel. In this, however, two things are
evidently confounded together — the speculative knowledge or notional belief,
and the practical faith of a future state of happiness and misery. For, on
the same ground that Dr. Whately denies the hope of immortality to those
who lived under the Jewish dispensation, he might hold it to be very doubt-
fully or darkly propounded to believers now. Besides, he is obliged, after
all, to admit, that somehow the doctrine and belief of a future state did
become prevalent among the Jews long before the revelations of the Gospel,
— an admission which is totally subversive of his main positions ; for,
beyond all dispute, this prevalent belief arose without the doctrine being
frequently and directly inculcated in any book of authoritative Scripture.
It is fatal, also, to the argument from 2 Tim. i. 10, ' Jesus Christ, who hath
abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the
Gospel.' For if the knowledge of a future state existed at all before Christ,
this could not have been brought to light by Him, as a thing till then wrapt
in utter darkness and obscurity. Nor does the statement of the apostle
imply so much. It merely declares that by means of Christ's Gospel a
clear light has been shed on the concerns of a future life ; they have been
brought distinctly into view, and set in the foreground of His spiritual
kingdom. And we have no more reason to maintain, from such a declara-
tion, that all was absolute darkness before, than to argue from Christ being
called ' the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world ' (John i. 9), that a total ignorance reigned before His coming in
regard to the things of God's kingdom.

In truth, it is no more the specific object of the Christian, than it was
of the earlier dispensations, to disclose and formally establish the doctrine
of a future state. They both alike take it for granted, and have it for their
immediate aim to prepare men for entering on its realities. Only, in the
dispensation of the Gospel, where first the adequate provision for eternity
has been made, and the way is laid open into its abiding mansions, does a
light shine upon its momentous interests, which, from the nature of things,
could not be imparted previously, without confounding shadow and sub-
stance together, and merging the preparatory in the final. But still the
existence of a future state of reward and punishment was implied from the
very first in the history of the divine dispensations, and is not doubtfully
indicated in many of the earlier notices of Scripture, as among the settled
beliefs of God's people. It was implied even in the first institution of a
religion of mercy and hope for fallen man ; since, connecting with God's
worship the prospect of a recovery from the ruin of sin, it would have only
mocked the worshippers with false expectations, unless an immortal state
of blessedness had been the issue it contemplated for such as faithfully
complied with the appointed services. It was implied in the special dealings

THE DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE. 439

of God with His more honoured servant.-;, — such as Abel and Enoch before
the flood, and after it Abraham and the patriarchs, — whose history, in many
of its bearings, is an inexplicable riddle, if viewed apart from the hope of

b tier tilings to come in their future destiny. It is implied again as an

ct of well-grounded faith and expectation, to such persons and their
spiritual seed, in the relation which God acknowledged Himself to hold
towards them, as their God and their Father, — titles that manifestly bespoke

bhem an abiding interest in i mal power and Godhead. — (Gen. vi.

•_' : Ex. iii n. is. 22; Matt. xxii. :>:.' ; Heli. xi. 1G.) Could rach special
dealings and revelations have been ma le t.> the ancestors of the Jewish
without awakening a response in the bosoms of those that received
them? Could they have failed to stimulate and eall forth that instinctive
belief in a future state, which even common providences were sufficient to
e in all other nations of the earth? The idea is utterly incredible :
and scanty as the notices are which are given us of their feelings and pro-
spects (for a supernatural restraint was laid upon the sacred penmen in
tlii- ), they yet tell us of a hope in death which was enjoyed by the

1. — a hope which it was the highest wish of Balaam in his 1m tier moods
to possess as his own last heritage — the hope of being gathered, in the first
I ■ their fathers in the peaceful chambers of Sheol, and of ulti-
mately attaining to a better resurrection. — (Gen. XXV. 8, xlix. 83 : Num.
xxiii. 10; Ihli. xi. L3, :;.">.)

These new ing the earlier dispensations, as connected with the

doctrine and belief of a future state, are strongly confirmed by the argu-
ment maintained in the Epistle to the Romans, and that to the Hebrews.
The prof i Bsed o pistles is to prove the necessity of the < Ihris-

tian religion, and its superiority over even the true, though imperfect, forms
of religion that existed before it. And if there had been Mich an utter
lack of any just ground for t!ie expectation of a future state in the Old
I lament dispensations, as is supposed by those we are now contending
against, the chii f Stress would naturally have been laid upon the great omis-
in this n -pect which had been supplied by the (lospel. But is it SO in

reality? So far from it, thai the reverse is frequently stated, and uni-
formly assumed. Ancient as well as present believers looked and hoped

for a better •• after this. The main discussion in both epistles turns

on man's relation to the law of God, and (to use the words of Coleridge,

.1« roL i. p. I".':'.) 'to the point, of which this law, in its

own oami . oil. red no solution, — the mystery which it left behind tic veil,

or in the cloudy tabenu types and figurative sacrifices. It was uot

whether there was a judgment to come, and souls to sutler the dread
: but rather, what are the means of escape ? where may grace be
found, and redemption? N"t, then-fore, that there is a life to com.', and
a future state ; but what eaeh individual Soul may hope ft ir ii lelf therein ;

and on what grounds: and that this state has been rendered an object of
aspiration and fervent desire, and a source of thanksgiving and exc ling

t joy j and by whom, and through whom, and for whom, and by what

means, and under what conditions, — these are the peculiar and distinguish-

400 THE TYrOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

ing fundamentals of the Christian faith. These are the revealed lights and
obtained privileges of the Christian dispensation. Not alone the know-
ledge of the boon, but the precious inestimable boon itself, is the grace and
truth that came by Jesus Christ.'

To return, however, to our main theme : We hold it to be a great and
unhappy oversight that has been committed by many, who, in ignoring the
connection between a present and a future recompense, have thereby left
out of view the very strongest of nature's grounds for anticipating an
hereafter of weal or woe. But it is quite possible to err on the one side
as well as on the other. ' There is no error so crooked, as not to have in
it some lines of truth.' And it seems to us, that Hengstenberg, in the
treatise already quoted from, has to some extent overlooked the lines of
truth which are in the error he controverts. It is quite true, as he has
correctly and vigorously stated, that the temporal is the necessary basis of
the future recompense ; and that it is from what God does here men are
to argue, and in fact do argue and infer, regarding what He will do here-
after. It is also true, as further stated by him, that a clear knowledge of
the breadth and purity of God's law, and of the various spiritual ends God
aims at in His dealings with men on earth, are sufficient to explain many
seeming irregularities in His outward providence ; as it discovers enough
of imperfection in the righteousness of the good to account for their liability
to sufferings, and enough of evil in the prosperity of the bad to render
their condition destitute of real blessing. All this is admitted, and yet
one cannot but feel that there is something which is left unexplained by it,
or not thoroughly met. The assertion of a perfect administration of right
holds in the full sense, only when eternity is added to time ; that is, when
the point now under consideration is virtually taken for granted. Looking
simply to a present world, it is impossible to maintain that the administra-
tion is perfect : the more impossible, the clearer and more spiritual our
views are of the law of righteousness. For how, then, could the doers of
righteousness be found to suffer, as is sometimes the case, for their good
deeds ? or how could prosperity of any kind be accorded to the enemies
of righteousness ? True, their prosperity may prove in the long run their
punishment, but only in respect to its bearing on the issues of a coming
eternity ; and even then only as abused on their part, not as given on the
part of God. In themselves, His gifts are all good ; and the commonest
bounties of providence, if conferred on the unworthy, mark a relative im-
perfection, at least in the administration of justice on earth. Without
some measure even of real imperfection, where would there be room for
the cry of an oppressed Church, ' Lord, how long ? ' Or where again the
necessity for the righteous looking so much away from the present world,
and fixing their expectations on what is to come ? In truth, a certain de-
gree of imperfection here is as much to be expected, and, in a sense also, as
necessary, as in all the preparatory dispensations of God. For it is the
feeling of imperfection within definite limits which more especially prompts
the soul to look and long for a more perfect future.

To bring the discussion to a close : It is indispensably necessary, in

ON SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. 491

order to ground the conviction and belief of a future state of reward and
punishment, that there Bhould be in the present course of the divine ad-
ministration palpable and undoubted evidences of amoral government of

the world. And in furnishing these in such manifold variety, and with
Bach singular clearness, consisted the peculiar Bervice rendered by the
Mosaic dispensation to the doctrine of a future Btate. But enough being

:i in the providence of God to establish this doctrine in the convictions
of men, the appearance, along with that, of anomalies and imperfections,
must naturally tend to confirm its hold on serious minds, and foster the
expectation of its future realities ; as they cannot but feel convinced that
a righteousness which gives such indubitable marks of its stringent opera-
tion, shall Bometime remove every defect, and perfect its work. They deem
it certain, that under the government of a God to whom such righteousness
1 longs, the apparent must at length be adjusted to the real Btate of thh
and that all instances of prosperous villany and injured worth must be
brought to an end. ' There is much, therefore,1 to use the words of Dr.
< 'haluiers, ' in the state of our presenl world, when its phenomena are fully
read and rightly interpreted, to warrant the expectation, that a time for
the final separation of all tie se grievous unfitnesses and irregularities is
yet coming, — when the good and the evil shall be separated into two dis-
tinct societies, and the same (!od wlm, in virtue of His justice, shall appear
to the one in the character "f an avenger, shall, in virtue of His love,
Stand forth to the Other as the kind and munificent Father of a duteous
offspring, shielded by His paternal care from all that can offend or annoy
in mansions of unspotted holiness.'1 Were it not. he justly ad. Is, for the
element of justice visible in God's administration, we should have no step-
ue to arrive at this conclusion. And yet the partial defects and
imperfections apparent in it- presenl exercise have their share in contribut-
ing t<> the result : as they materially tend, when one,' the conclusion itself

jtabhshed in the mind, to nourish the expectation of another and more-
perfect state to come.

APPENDIX C
OX SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP.- 1'. :X>0.

Tut" great, and, we may say. fundamental mi-take in the Bounder portion .,f

English theologians, who have written u[ primitive sacrifice, ba

then- holding the n< aity of a divine command to prove the exit tence of ;l

divine origin. They have conceived that the absence of Buch a command

dd inevitably imply tie' want of sueh an origin. And hence the whole

strength of the argument, as it Ins been usually conducted, is directed to
1 Institutes, vol. i. ji. 131. -' By m Appendix D.'

492 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

show, that though no command is actually recorded, yet the facts of the
case prove it to have been issued. As a specimen of this style of reasoning,
we take the following from Delany : — ' Nothing but God's command could
create a right to take away the lives of His creatures. And it is certain
that the destruction of an innocent creature is not in itself an action accept-
able to God ; and therefore nothing but duty could make it acceptable, and
nothing but the command of God could make it dutiful.' — (Revelation
examined with Candour, vol. i. p. 136.) And so generally. Uncommanded
sacrifice, it has been presumed, would necessarily have been unwarranted
and unacceptable ; and therefore the right to kill animals for clothing, but
still more the duty of sacrificing their lives in worship, has appeared con-
clusively to argue the prior existence of a divine command to use them in
acts of worship.

The opponents of this view, on the other hand, have maintained, and
we think have maintained successfully, that if such a command, expressly
and positively enjoining the sacrifice of animal life in worship, had actually
been given, it is unaccountable that it should not have been recorded ; since,
to drop it from the record, if so certainly given, and so essentially necessary,
as is alleged on the other side, was like leaving out the foundation of the
whole edifice of primitive worship. The only warrantable conclusion we
can be entitled to draw from the silence of Scripture in such a case, is, that
no command of the kind was really given. So with some reason it is
alleged ; but when the persons who argue and conclude thus, proceed, as
they invariably do, to the further conclusion, that since there was no com-
mand, there was nothing properly divine in the offerings of sacrificial wor-
ship, they unduly contract the boundaries of the divine in human things,
and betray, besides, an entire misapprehension of the nature of the first
dispensation of God toward fallen man. This, as we have said, is distin-
guished by the absence of command in everything ; throughout it exhibits
nothing of law in the strict and proper sense ; and yet it would surely be a
piece of extravagance to maintain that there were not, in the procedure of
God, and in the relation man was appointed to hold toward Him, the
essential grounds and materials of moral obligation. How readily these
were discovered, in the divine operations, where still there was no divine
command, may be inferred from what is written of the formation of Eve :
' And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh : she
shall be called woman (Isha), because she was taken out of man (Ish).'
He had come to know the manner of her formation ; the divine act had
been disclosed to him, as it had, doubtless, been in all others in which he
was personally interested, because in the act there was contained a revelation
of God, involving responsibilities and duties for His creatures. ' Therefore,'
it is added, by way of inference from the act of God, and an inference, if
not drawn on the spot by Adam, yet undoubtedly expressing the mind of
God, as to what might even then have been drawn, and what actually was
drawn, by the better portion of his immediate descendants, ' Therefore shall
a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife : and
they shall be one flesh.' The act of God alone, without any accompanying

OX SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. 403

command, laid the foundation for all coming time of the conjugal relation,
ami not only entitled, but bound men to hold, as of divine appointment, its

virtual incorporations of persons, and corresponding obligations of mutual
aid fidelity.

principle that ought to lie laid as the foundation of all just reasoning
ou such subjects, is. that whati vet man can plainly learn from the revela-
tions God gives of Bimself, to be in accordance with the divine mind and
will, ihitt is of God, ami it is man's duty to believe and act accordiimlv.
lint the issuing of authoritative commands is not ti way God has of

aling His mind and will : nor. to creatures made after His own im.
and even though fallen, able within certain limits of understanding

and imitating His proce lure, is it even the first and most natural way of
doing so. It is rather the manifestations which God gives of Himself in
His works and ways, in which they might be expected to find the primary

inds of their faith and practice : and only when such had proved to be
inadequate, might they require to be supplemented by explicit commands
and Btringent enactments. Holding, therefore, as we do, that the command
to sacrifice was not necessary to establish the divine authority of the lit
sacrifice, — holding, moreover, that in the divine act of covering m
person by the skins of si tin beasts, as the symbol of his guilt being covered
before God, there was an actual revelation of the mind of God in regard to
II s purposes of mercy and forgiveness to the sinful, precisely such as was
afterwards embodied in animal sacrifice, — we can satisfactorily account for
the absence of the command, and a' me time maintain the essentially

divine origin of the rite. And the reasoning of Davison and others, on the
principle of no command, therefore no divine authority, falls to the ground
of itself as a f luction.

Of course the soundness of our own view respecting the essentially
divine origin of sacrifice and its properly expiatory character, depends

upon the correctness of the in ition we have put u] the divine

. to. Davison, in common with British divines generally, re-

Lfl it in a merely natural light. Ilesees in it simply 'an instance of the
divine wisdom and philanthropy; interposing, by the dictation and pro-

/u of a i rable clothing, to veil the nakedness and cherish the

modesty of our fallen nature, by sin made sensible to shame.' — (!'. 24.)
This he deems an objed worthy of a special intervention of God, worthy

i of a sacrifice of animal life to .-ecu re its accomplishment ; and being I
secured, he thinks it quite natural that the first pair might afterwards h
felt themseh es perfectly at liberty to use, for the sacred purpose! of worship,
what they had been taught t<> consider at their service for the lower pur-
poses of corporeal clothing. This inference might certainly have been
legitimate, if the premises on which it is founded had bun accurately
stated. But there we object. If corporeal clothing alone had been the

intention of the act, it would have been the fruit of a Hess interpo i-

tion, — the more bo, as our Hi i parents were then rfullypr pted

to seek for clothing, and had already found a temporary relief. When the

nets and feelings of nature were manifestly so alive to the object, is it

494 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

to be conceived that the ingenuity and skill which proved sufficient 1o
accomplish so many other operations for their natural support and com-
fort, should have been incompetent here ? It is altogether incredible. On
simply natural grounds, the action admits of no adequate explanation, and
must ever appear above the occasion — consequently unworthy of God.
Besides, how anomalous, especially in a historical revelation, which ever
gives the foremost place to the moral element in God's character and ways,
if He should have appeared thus solicitous about the decent and comfortable
clothing of men's bodies, and yet have left them wholly in the dark as to
the way of getting peace and quietness to their consciences ! Such must
have been the case with our first parents, if they were thrown entirely
upon their own resources in the presentation of sacrificial offerings. And
so Mr. Davison himself substantially admits. For while he endeavours to
account naturally, and by means of the ordinary principles and feelings of
piety, for the offering of animal life in sacrifice to God, considered simply
as an expression of penitence in the offerer, or of his sense of deserved
punishment for sin, he denies it could properly be regarded as an expiation
or atonement of guilt ; and hence postpones this higher aspect of sacrifice
altogether, till the law of Moses, when he conceives it was for the first
time introduced. Up till that period, therefore, sacrificial worship was but
a species of natural religion ; and man had no proper ground from God
to expect, in answer to his offerings, the assurance -of divine pardon and
acceptance. But this, we contend, had it been real, would have been
anomalous. It would have been to represent God as caring originally more
for the bodies than for the souls of His people ; and as utterly ignoring at
one period of His dealings, what at another He not only respects, but
exalts to the highest place of importance. How could we vindicate the
pre-eminently moral character of God's principles of dealing, and the un-
changeable nature of His administration, if He actually had been at first
so indifferent in regard to the removal of guilt from the conscience, and
afterwards so concerned about it as to make all religion hinge on its ac-
complishment? Any satisfactory vindication, in such a case, must neces-
sarily be hopeless. But we are convinced it is not needed; the moral
element is pre-eminent in God's dealings toward men. It was this which
gave its significance and worth to His act of clothing our first parents,
as painfully conscious of guilt, with the skins of living creatures, whose
covering of innocence was in a manner put on them. And on the ground
alone of what was moral in the transaction, symbolically disclosing itself
(as usual in ancient times) through the natural and corporeal, can we
account for the sacrifice of slain victims becoming so soon, and continuing
so long, the grand medium of acceptable communion with God. If, in so
clothing man, God did mean to give indication respecting the covering of
man's guilt, and men of faith understood Him to do so, all becomes intel-
ligible, consistent, and even comparatively plain. But if otherwise, all
appears strange, irregular, and mysterious.1

1 Davison's internal reason, as he calls it (p. 84), against the atoning character of
the ante-legal oblations -that such oblations, even under the law, atoned only for

OX SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. 495

We are not disposed, in a matter of this kind, to lay much stress a
philological considerations. Yet it is not unimportant to notice that the

technical and constantly recurring expression under the law, fur the de-
sign of expiatory offerings (v^y "lB3^)i Beems to have its most natural ex-
planation by reference to thai fundamental act of God, considered in
resped to its moral import. To cover upon him, as the words really mean,
is so singular an expression for making an atonement for guilt, that it
could scarcely have arisen with oul some significant fad in history naturally
suggesting it. We certainly have BUch a fact in the circumstance of God's
covering upon our first parents with the skins of animals, slain for them,
if that was intended to denote the covering of their guilt ami shame, as
pardoned and put away by God. The first great act of forgiveness in con-
nection with the sacrifice of life, would thus not unfitly have supplied a
sacrificial language, as well as formed the basis of a Bacrificial worship,
lint if some collateral support may be derived from this quarter to the
v we have advanced, we certainly must disclaim being indebted to
another philological consideration, more commonly urged by the advocates
of the di\ ine origin of sacrifice. We refer to the argument so much pressed
by Lightfoot, Magee, and others still in the present day, and based on what
is regarded as a more exact rendering of Gen. iv. 7, as if it should be, ' If
thou doest well, slialt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, a
sin-offering lieth at the dour.'1 Magee calls this ' the plain, natural, and sig-
nificant iutt rpretation' of the words, and vindicates it at great length —

more especially on three grounds: 1. That the word translated sin (jlKBil)

iv ii' quently used in the sense of Bin-offering; 2. That when so used,
it is usually coupled (though a feminine noun) with a verb in the mascu-
line; and ."». That the Verb connected with it here, properly has res;

to an animal (]*2~), and literally den- xhing or lying down — quite

appropriately said of a beast, but n I sin. A. single fact is perfectly

sufficient to dispose of the whole ; the fact, namely, that the Hebrew term
foi sin never bears tic import of sin-offering till the period of the law,

and could not indeed do so. as til! then what wire distinctively called n/h-

\\ere unknown. To give the passage this turn, therefore, is to

put an arbitrary and unwarranted sense upon the principal word, as tie re

Used; and nothing but the high authority of SUCh men as Lightfoot and

fdagei old have given it the currency which it has so long obtained in

this country. The real explanation of the feminine noun being coupled

with a masculine verb, is to be found in the personification of sin as a wild
beast, or cunning tempter to evil. And the whole passage hears -
to the circumstances <>i the first temptation, and can only, indeed, be cor-
tly understood when these are kept in view: "And Jehovah said unto
Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? Shall
there not, if thou d od (viz. in regard to the sacrifice), be accept-

ance (or lifting up)? and if thou doest not good, .-in coucheth at the

monial offences, •which of necessity had do exi tenoe in curlier times, prooei
on a net uncommon misconception of the law of M otiog sacrifice, wi.

will bu takuii up at its proper place. Bee vol. ii. ch. 2, sec 0.

406 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

door. And unto thee shall be its desire, and thou shalt ride over it.' The
last words are simply a transference to sin, in its relation to Cain, of what
was originally said of Eve in her relation to Adam (Gen. hi. 16) ; and
many Jewish (see, for example, the exposition of Sola, Lindenthall, and
Raphall) as well as Christian interpreters have discerned the allusion, and
had respect to it in their exposition. Our translators, however, have
unhappily understood the parties spoken of to be Cain and Abel, instead
of Cain and sin, and thereby greatly obscured the meaning. The object
of the divine expostulation with Cain is evidently to show him, in the first
instance, that the evil he frowned at really lay with himself, in his re-
fusing to acknowledge and serve God, as his brother did. If he would
still take this course, the ground of complaint should be removed ; he
would find acceptance, as well as his brother. But if he refused, then
there was but one alternative, — he could not get rid of sin : like an evil
genius, it lay couching at the door, ready to prevail over him ; but it was
for him to do the manly part, and assert his superiority over it. In short,
he is reminded by a silent reference to the sad circumstances of the fall,
that giving way to sin, as he was doing, was allowing the weaker prin-
ciple of his nature (represented by the woman in that memorable trans-
action) to gain the ascendant, while it became him, by cleaving to the
right, to keep it in subjection ; and it was implied, that if he failed in
this, a second fall should inevitably follow, — instead of rising, he must
sink.

While, however, we reject the argument commonly derived from this
passage in behalf of the divine origin of sacrifice, we derive an argument
from it of another kind — viz. from the explicit manner in which it con-
nects doing good with the acceptable presentation of sacrifice, and its
representing sin as unforgiven, unsubdued, reigning in the heart and
conduct, if sacrifice was not so performed. Had sacrifice not been essen-
tially of God ; had it not required the humble and childlike heart of faith
to present it aright ; had it not carried along with it, when so presented,
the blessing of forgiveness and grace from Heaven, we cannot understand
how such singular importance should have been attached to it. Like the
sacrifice of Christ now, it has all the appearance of having then been the
great touchstone of an accepted and blessed, or a guilty and rejected con-
dition ; not one of many, as it would have been if devised by man, but
standing comparatively alone as an all-important ordinance of God.

THE TYPICAL RELATION OF ISRAEL IN CANAAN. 497

APPENDIX D.

DOES TIIE ORIGINAL RELATION OF THE SEED OF ABRAHAM
TO THE LAND OF CANAAN AFFORD ANY GROUND FOR EX-
PECTING THEIR FINAL RETURN TO IT?— P. 409.

Tins question very naturally suggests itself in connection with the subject
discussed in the trxt, although, from its involving matter of controversy,
we deemed it better not to enter upon it there. The view presented, how-
ever, of the relations of the covenant people, as connected with the
occupation of Canaan, leads naturally to the conclusion, that their peculiar
connection with that territory has ceased with the other temporary ex-
pedients and shadows to which it belonged. The people had certain ends
of an immediate kind to fulfil, by means of their residence in the land —
being placed there as representatives and bearers of the covenant, more
fully to exhibit its character and tendencies, and to operate with more
effect upon the nations around. But while intended to serve this present
purpose, their possession of the land was also designed to be to the eye of
faith an earnest and a pledge of the final occupation of a redeemed and
glorified earth by Christ, and His elect seed of blessing. This is the proper
antitype to the possession of the inheritance by the natural seed, in so far
as that could justly be accounted typical.

One can easily perceive, therefore, that the representation entirely fails
in its foundation, which is often made by recent writers on unfulfilled pro-
phecy, viz. that the Original possession of the land of Canaan by the seel
of Jacob was 'only a token and earnest of a more glorious occupation of
the land hereafter to be enjoyed by them.1 It is contrary to the nature of

I'hecies of this son. as determined by the history of previous fulfilments,
to make an event foreshadow itself — to make one occupation of the land
of Canaan the type of another and future occupation of it. As well might
it be alleged, that the natural [srael having eaten manna in the desert,
was a type of their having to gain, or that their former killing of

the | r-lamb foreshadowed their doing so hereafter in some new style,

as that their ancient occupation ,,f the land of Canaan typified a future
and better possi non of it.

It is possible i Dough, however, that what we have put here in the form
oi extravagant suppositions, will be readily embraced by many who be-
lieve in the future restoration of I rael to Canaan. An entire reproduc-
tion of the old is now contended for, . ary to establish the literal

truthfulness of Scripture. And among other things to be expected, we

told, in connection with the return of Israel to Canaan, is the building

anew, and on a style of higher magnificence, of the material temple, the

citation of the Levitical priestb I, and the re-institution of the

fleshly sacrifices and pompous ceremonial of the ancient worship. To hold
thin, indeed, is only to follow to its legitimate ta the idea that the

vol. i. 2 I

i(J8 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

former possession of Canaan was typical of another ; since, if that earlier
possession gave promise of a later one, the establishment of the religious
economy connected with it must have foreshadowed its future restoration.
But the notion, in this form of it, stands in direct antithesis to the whole
genius of the New Testament dispensation, and to some of the most explicit
statements also of New Testament Scripture. If anything be plain in
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is, that everything there assumes a spiritual
character and a universal aspect, as contradistinguished from the local and
fleshly. Foreseeing this, the prophet Malachi had said that, in the coming
age, ' incense and a pure offering should in every place be offered to the
Lord;' and our Lord Himself announced to the woman of Samaria the
approaching abolition of all local distinctions : ' The hour cometh, when
neither in this mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, shall men worship the
Father ; ' that is, shall not regard worship rendered in these places as more
sacred or more acceptable than worship paid elsewhere. The law, with all
its limitations of time and place, its bodily lustrations and prescribed ser-
vices, was for the nonage of the Church, and in form falls away, remains
only in spirit, when the Church reaches her maturity. Such, unquestion-
ably, is the argument of the apostle in his Epistle to the Galatians ; and
it would surely be to run counter to all sense and reason, if, when the
furthest extreme from the nonage condition is attained, the nonage food
and discipline should return. As well might one expect to hear of angels
being put into leading-strings ! Nay, it is expressly declared that the
abobtion of the outward forms and services of Judaism was on account of
its 'weakness and unprofitableness' (Heb. vii. 18); and that the law,
which ordained such things, was of necessity changed or disannulled with
the introduction of a new priesthood made after the order of Melchizedek
(Heb. vii. 12). And hence those who, in the apostolic age, insisted on
the continued observance of the now antiquated rites of Judaism, were
expostulated with by the apostle as virtually making void the work of
Christ, and acting as if the Church stood at where it was before He came
into the world (Gal. v. 2-4 ; Col. ii. 14-23).

Where such scriptural testimonies, so plain in their terms, and so con-
clusive in their import, have failed to produce conviction, it would be vain
to expect anything from human argumentation. It may be proper, how-
ever, to present briefly, and more formally than has yet been done, what
we deem the proper view of Israel's typical relations, with respect more
immediately to the subject now under consideration. The natural Israel,
then, as God's chosen people from among the peoples of the earth, were
types of the elect seed, the spiritual and royal priesthood, whom Christ
was to choose out of the world, and redeem for His everlasting kingdom.
When this latter purpose began to be carried into effect, the former, as a
matter of course, began to give way — precisely as the shedding of Christ's
blood upon the cross antiquated the whole sacrificial system of Moses.
Hence, to indicate that the type, in this respect, has passed into the anti-
type, believers in Christ, of Gentile as well as of Jewish origin, are called
Abraham's seed (Gal. iii. 29) ; Israelites (ch. vi. 16 ; Eph. ii. 12, 19) ;

THE TYPICAL RELATION OF ISRAEL IX CANAAN. 490

comers unto Mount Zion (lick xii. 22); citizens of the free <>r heavenly
Jerusalem (» 6. ,* Gal iv. 26); the circumcision (Phil. iii. :> ; Col. ii. 11);
and in tin- Apocalypse, which is written throughout in the language of
Bymbol and type, they are even called Jews (ch. ii. 9); while tin' sealed
company, in ch. vii., who undoubtedly represent tin' whole multitude of
the redeemed, are identified with the sealed of the twelve tribes of [srael.
Further, this spiritual Israel of the New Testament arc expressly declared
tn be ' heirs according to the promise' (Gal. iii. 29) — the promise, namely,
given to Abraham; for it is as Abraham's seed that they are designated
heirs ; and, of course, the possession of which they are heirs can 1"' no other
than that given by promise to Abraham. Put then, as the antitypical
things have now entered, not the old narrow ami transitory inheritance
is to be thought of, but that which it typically represented — 'the inherit-
ance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.' which now as an
object of hope taki a its place. Accordingly, when the higher things of tie-
Gospel are fairly introduced, it is to this nobler inheritance, as alone re-
maining, that the desires and expectations of the heirs of salvation are
pointed. The apostles never allude to any other, when handling the c
either of believing .lews or converted Gentiles ; and when that inheritance
of endless blessing and glory, — the inheritance, as we believe it to be, of
this earth itself in a state of heavenly perfection, — when this shall become
the possession of a redeemed and glorified Church, then shall the promise
contained in the < 'Id Testament type be fully realiz d.

]5ut ot something specially belonging to [srael be included in the

antitype? — something to distinguish the natural line of believers from
those who belong to the seed only by spiritual ties? So, sometimes, it is
argued, as in Israel Restored, p. 198 : 'Do they tell us the literal Israel
a type of the spiritual ? We instantly gran! it. Do they tell us again,
that therefore there is a spiritual fulfilment of the covenant to believers ?
We granl it also. But all this, we say, is nothii e point. Xou must

farther. What you need to prove is, that Israel of old, whose d< cend-
ants still e: typeol the spit ual I rael, thai they were finally

toe ad be lost in them whom they typified.1 There is i for

any such proof : the point in question is implied in the very f aci of their
beu : for, as such, the_\ of i d and became losl in the

antitype. Was not the Paschal I. anil, merged and lost in Christ? And

the veil of the temple in Christ's body? And David in the Son Of .Mary?

Every type mw t, a matter of i bare the same fate; and if

anything peculi 1 for tin- land or people, who served a typical

purpose, it i "ii Borne other accounl than this that it Bhall belong

to them.

Moie commonly, however, the stress of the argument, as connected
with the original position of the Israelites, is laid upon the terms of the

covenant with Abraham, in which Canaan is Bpoken of as their urc and

abiding possession. Bo, among many others, Kurtz {GeschichU ties Alien
Bundes, \>. 128), who n-,_Vs, 'In tl ved promise (Gen. x\ii. 8), the

possession of the land is called an everlasting possession, as the covenant is

500 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

also called an everlasting covenant. — (Vers. 7, 13.) That the covenant
should be called an everlasting one cannot appear strange, as it is a cove-
nant that must reach its end. If the fruit of the covenant is of a per-
manent kind, such also must be the covenant itself, of which it is the
fulfilment. The promise of an everlasting possession of the land had
respect primarily to the pilgrim-condition of Abraham, which was such as
not to admit of his possessing a single foot-breadth in it as his own. But
the land of promise is the inheritance and possession of his seed, and
remains so for ever, though Israel may have been exiled from the land, and
whether the exile may have lasted seventy or two thousand years.' True,
no doubt, if the relative position of things continues substantially the same
during the longer, as during the shorter period of exile ; but not, surely,
if they have undergone an essential change. The seed of Abraham has
become unspeakably ennobled in Christ, and it is but natural to infer that
the inheritance also shall obtain a corresponding elevation. The peculiar
distinction of Canaan, and that which most of all rendered it an inheritance
of blessing, was its being God's land. And if in Christ the whole earth
becomes in the same sense the Lord's, that Canaan was of old claimed to
be His, then the promise will embrace the earth ; nor will it be, in such a
case, as if Canaan were lost to any portion of the seed, but rather as if
Canaan were indefinitely widened and enlarged to receive them. In like
manner, believers have the promise that they shall worship God in His
heavenly temple ; and yet, when the heavenly appears to John in its glory,
he sees no temple in it. Does the promise therefore fail ? On the con-
trary, it is in the highest sense fulfilled. The no-temple simply means
that all has become temple, alike sacred and glorious ; just as we may say,
the no-Canaan in Christ has become all-Canaan. The inheritance is not
lost ; it has only ceased to become a part, and extends as far and wide as
Christ's peculiar possession reaches. — (Ps. ii.) Here, however, we tread on
the confines of prophecy, a field on which at present we do not mean to
enter. We simply add, in confirmation of what has now been advanced
regarding the Abrahamic covenant, that as the covenant is called ever-
lasting, and the land also an everlasting possession, so circumcision is called
everlasting : ' My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting cove-
nant.'— (Ver. 13.) But we know for certain, that this was not intended to
be in the strict sense perpetual. Baptism has virtually taken the place of
circumcision ; and circumcision should have been dropped when Christ
appeared. It is the sin of the Jews to continue it, and it cannot now be
to them the pledge of blessing. (See ' Prophecy in its Distinctive Nature,1
etc., Part ii. ch. ii. where the subject is discussed at some length.)

RELATION OF CANAAN TO THE STATE OF FINAL REST. 501

APPENDIX E.

THE RELATION OF CANAAN TO THE STATE OF FINAL REST

(Heb. iv. 1, 10).— P. 425.

Tur: view presented in the text upon this subject, and the conclusion
arrived at, substantially coincide with the argument maintained in the

fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. And as a somewhat intricate
turn is (here given to the line of thought pursued in the epistle, I shall here
refer a little more particularly to the us well for the purpose of

explicating its proper meaning, as for confirmation of what has been said
i the subject itself. This part of the epistle is introduced by an ex-
hortation in chapter iii. to Btedfastnesa in the faith, and to diligence in the
use of the means naturally fitted to secure it ; and the exhortation is further
ifirmed by a reference to the words employed for the same purpose by
the Psalmist in Ps. xcv., who there calls upon the men of his day to beware
of falling into the apostasy, and incurring the doom of their forefathers in
the desert, when they provoked God by refusing to go forward in faith
upon His word to occupy the land of Canaan, and He, in consequence,
sware in His wrath that they should not enter into His rest. Catching up
this word rest — God? a rest — contained in the divine utterance of judgment
(as given by the Psalmist), the inspired writer goes on, at chap. iv. 1, to
discourse of the relation in which believers under the Gospel stand to it.
He reminds them that tiny had, as a matter of course, succeeded to the
heritage of | Ten in former ages to God's people concerning it ; it

had come down as an entail of blessing to them, and might now, precisely
as of old. be cither appropriated by faith, or forfeited by unbelief. Not
only does he thus conic under the Gospel with believers under

the law in respect to tic promi . but the promise itself he connects

with the very commencement of the world's history — with that rest of God
which He is said to have t :ik « ::, when lie ceased from all His works which
11 created and male. — (Gen.ii.2.) This was emphatically God's rest, the
only thing expressly characterized as such in the history of the divine cha-
ins; and the apostle points to it as a noteworthy thing, that while
the works, from which God is thus said to have rested, were finished :n the
i of the world, the promise of the land of Canaan should BOmehow,
thousands of years afterwards, have been associated with it. Yet he does
not (as is too commonly supposed) .simply identify the two; while both he
and the Psalmist speak ot ■ •;■ lusion from Canaan as involving for ancient
Israel exclusion from an interest in God's rest : they both also conceive the
possibility of having an inheritance in Oanaan, and yet wanting a partici-
pation in the rest of God. On this account the Psalmist had plied his con-
temporaries when they uure in Canaan with the admonition to beware, le>t,
by provoking God, they should still lose their interest in God's rest. And
now, again, the writer of this e] lying hold of the words of the

502 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

Psalmist, repeats the same warning, and calls upon Christians to take good
heed, that by stedfastly adhering to the faith and obedience of the Gospel,
they should secure their entrance into that rest of God which remains for
them, as it has remained for God's people in every age — the blessed result
and consummation of a life of faith.

Such are the leading points in the line of thought pursued in this por-
tion of the Epistle to the Hebrews, viewed simply in itself, and without
regard to the debateable questions and conflicting views which have been
too often brought into it. The plainest reader can easily perceive the
connection, when it is put in a distinct and orderly manner before him.
But there is a marked peculiarity in the representation as first given by
the Psalmist, and silently adopted by the apostle, which must be noticed
in order to make the inspired exposition appear altogether natural, and to
apprehend the full depth of meaning involved in it. For, it will be ob-
served, the language of the psalm, in naming the rest in question, strikingly
differs from that of the original passage which relates to it, though no
comment is made on the diversity by the author of the epistle. He takes
the word just as he finds it. But it is remarkable that the utterance which
it connects with the oath of God is nowhere found in the earlier Scriptures
precisely in the form there given to it. In the passage more directly re-
ferred to by the Psalmist, the words are, ' As truly as I live .... if they
shall see ' (that is, they shall certainly not see) ' the land which I sware
unto their fathers.' — (Num. xiv. 21-23.) In another verse of the same
chapter (ver. 30), the declaration is again repeated, and very nearly in the
same words. It was undoubtedly these sayings which the Psalmist refers
to when he speaks of God reversing, as it were, His oath — swearing in
regard to the generation that had provoked Him, that they should not
possess what He had previously sworn to their fathers to give them. But
why, in pointing to this fresh oath or asseveration, should he have so re-
markably departed from the language of Moses ? Why, instead of saying,
They shall not see, or they shall not come into the land, which I sware to
give to their fathers, should he have represented God as swearing, They
shall not enter into my rest ? There must have been some reason for this ;
and, indeed, there needs no great search to discover it. The Psalmist
would give the old word in its substance, but with a difference, such as
might serve to convey an insight into the spiritual meaning involved in it,
and let the men of his own generation see — the carnal and ungodly among
them — that they were substantially on a footing with those who perished
in the wilderness. They were living, indeed, in the land promised to their
fathers ; but what of that ? The promise was never made to secure for
them simply the possession of so much territory, as if in that alone they
could find a proper and satisfying good. It could only be realized in the
sense meant by God, and necessary to His people's wellbeing, if the land
was held as God's land, and the rest it brought was enjoyed as a participa-
tion in God's rest. If such, however, were the case, it must plainly follow,
that for those who had entered the land, but who had not also entered into
rest in this higher sense, the promise still remained essentially unfulfilled ;

RELATION OF CANAAN TO THE STATE OF FINAL REST. 503

they were but formally in possession of the children's heritage, while in
reality they knew nothing of the children's blearing, and were in dan

of being cast out as aliens. So that to tin in also reached the words of
o pronounced by God against their fathers, 'They shall not enter

into my rest.' No. it is not with "" they are sojourners; ami whatever
they may enjoy, it is not thai rest which I engaged to share with my
chosen.

Hut what precisely is meant by this rest of God in its relation to God's
people? It has, we Bee, been - t before them under all dispensations as
the one grand good which they are invited to make their own ; but which
those who in ancient times provoked God by their unbelief and wayward-

s were cutoff from inheriting — which still also professing Christians
are in danger, on similar accounts, of forfeiting. What, then, is it ? Or
how in reality is it to he entered on? That it is not simply to lie identified
with heaven is evident •. since otherwise it could not have been so con-
nected, as it was by the Psalmist, with a proper realization of the prom!
inheritance of Canaan, as at least a partial enjoyment of the blessing; nor
indeed can it be absolutely tied to any one place, region, or time. 'For
they that have believed enter into the rest; ' that is, they do it by virtue
of their belief, and, in a measure, whenever they have it.

In proof of this, the inspired writer carries his readers back to the
creation of the world, and shows how, by the sanctification and blessing of
the seventh day, it was from the first man's calling and destination to
-Kaie in God's ivt. But this destination, and God's purpose in connection
with it, were interrupted by the fall. They were for the moment foiled,
and rendered incapable of being carried into execution after the primeval

pattern ; but they were by no means abandoned. The eternal pur]

could not be frustrated; the calling of God was here necessarily with
repentance ; and the economy of grace entered, that it might be made
I in a way consistent with the attributes of His character. Perpetually,

therefore, BS the plan of Cod proeeeds, there mus: in BubstaUCe he .-ounde.l

in men's ears the call to share alike in Cod's works and God's rest — to im-
bibe the .-pint of the one, and ent< c into the participation of the other.
And sometimes, as in the | jages now under consideration, the call takes a
more explicit foi in in this direction, in order to ke< p before us the thought,
how God's purpose in redemption coalesces with His original purpose in
tion, and how the final issue of the one shall bring the realization of
mplated in the Other. It tells us that redemption in all its

Btaj :fa preliminary ami typical movements as were connected

with the pOBBe8Bion of Canaan, and still more, of COUT B, in the i iper mo\ ,-

ments and results pertaining to the work of Christ— ever aims at the re-
storation of man i,, the right knowledge and use of Cod's works, and tic
blessed participation of God's rest. The aim can be attained only in part
now, but shall lie perfectly so hereafter, when the work of Cod in this
higher aspect of it being finished by the bringing in of the new heavens
and the new earth, there shall he administered to all the redeemed a full
well as final entrance into the joy of their Lord. But for those who

504 THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE.

lived in the times preceding the Gospel, and who had spiritual insight to
discern the meaning of what was established, the external rest of Canaan
should (according to both the Psalmist and the apostle) have been re-
garded, not as the ultimate boon they were to look for, but as the sign
and earnest of an everlasting fellowship with God, in a sabbatism which
shall be in complete accordance with His own perfect and glorious nature.

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i will L>o completed in tbc above Sixteen Volumes. Subscription |

olume is 6old separately, at Ten Shillings and Sixpence.

fTlHE series of St. Augustine's -works, as originally announced by Messrs.
-*- Claii iriy completed, the Publishej i to invite atten-

tion to it mare in detail. They trust they may hope to receive the support of
all who value the writings, of the great Fatl portion

of those writings containe 1 in this series have not been hitherto translated.

The series appropriately ' iwithtbi tine's w

•Ti;: City of God,' whi itherto only been ac aglishrei

in a very old and feeble \

THE CITY OF GOD.

Li Two Volumes.

The propriety of publishing a translation of so choice a specimen of ancient
literature neeils no defence. There are not a great many men now-a-days
who will read a work in Latin of twenty-two books. Whilst there have
been no fewer than eight independent translations into the French tongue
(one of which has gone through four editions), only one exists in English,
and this is so exceptionally bad, so inaccurate, and so frequently unin-
telligible, that it is not impossible it may have done something towards
giving the English public a distaste for the book itself.

' Dr. Dods has evidently achieved his task in a spirit of loving reverence for his
Master, and has provided a spirited, racy, and elegant translation of what Dr. Waterland
describes as "a most learned, most correct, and most elaborate work."'

' An idiomatic translation like this speaks highly for the powers of its authors. The
English reader who has been before only familiar with the crabbed versions of St.
Augustine will be delighted to get hold of so great a treasure, which read3 like an
original English work, and that of the best style.' — Church Review.

' We have already exceeded the limits within which we proposed to restrict our obser-
vations on this very remarkable book, for the reproduction of which, in an admirable
English garb, we are greatly indebted to the well-directed enterprise and energy of
Messrs. Clark, and to the accuracy ami scholarship of those who have undertaken the
laborious work of translation.' — Christian Observer.

'This famous book is still of historic and present value. It was wise to issue the
" City of God " as the first volume of the series, that being the most representative of
Augustine's works. It is the embodiment not of the writer only, but of the age in which
he lived. With all its faults, it is the great work of a great man.' — Record.

THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE.

Translated by Rev. J. G. CUNNINGHAM, M.A.

In Two Volumes.

'St. Augustine's Epistles are delightful reading. They will teach more Church History,
if read together with St. Jerome's and with the Canons of contemporary Councils, than
any professed historian can do, for they put the reader in contact with one of the great
primitive minds of Christendom. The translator has rendered the original into simple
and perspicuous English.' — Churchman.

'We can speak strongly as to the care and fidelity, and also readableness, of this trans-
lation; we wish that any words of ours could persuade young students (or older ones for
that matter) to take advantage of such helps as these.'— Literary Churchman.

'A great boon to English readers, as no other translation in our language has yet
appeared.' — Rock.

'St. Augustine's correspondence embraced all who were eminent in philosophy,
literature, politics, religious and social life; everybody found his way to the Bishop of
Hippo.' — British Quarterly Review.

'A most valuable contribution to a wider acquaintance with St. Augustine.' — British
and Foreign Evangelical Review.

' An invaluable supplement to and commentary on his larger works, and furnishing a
lively picture of the theological movements of the times.' — Daily Review.

' If the reader has any taste for the acquisition of knowledge, he cannot fail to be
interested and instructed. We advise students rather to deny themselves of, or postpone
their acquaintance with, many modern writers, than to neglect this mighty man of old.' —
Watchman.

T. and T. Claries Publications.

WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE
MANICH^AN HERESY.

Translated by Rev. RICHARD STOTHERT, M.A.

In One Volutin .

I i this Treatise, in finding his way through the mazes of the obscure region into
which M anichseos led liim, he, once for all. ascertained the true relation sub-
sisting between God and His creatures, formed his opinion regarding the
ive provinces of reason and faith, and the connection of the Old and
New Testaments, and found the root of all evil in the created will.

'At first si^-ht the reader might suppose these treatises to be antiquated and dull ; but
I : him ''take up and read," an I if be has any taste f"r the acquisition of knowledge, be
uut fail to be interested and instructed.' — Watchman.

ON THE TRINITY.

Translated r.v Rev. ARTHUR HADDAN, B.D..

HON. < AHOH OF WORCESTER, AND RBCTOB OF BAUTON-on-THE-JUATH.

J a (i m Volume.

One of the most valuable portions of this volume is the eloquent and profound
exposition given of the rule of interpretation to be applied to Scripture
language respecting the person of our Lord.

'In giving this work to the English read-r, Cauon Haddan has left us another of those
rich legacies which endear his memory as a scholar and real divine.' — John Butt.

' This treatise is valuable, apart from every other value, as an intellectual exercise to the
student. The thought is often 60 delicate and profound, thai it requires the most patient
investigation to grasp all its meaning; and it possesses that nnmistakeable quality of
genius, that it is continually bringing out into form ideas that have often flitted through
the reader's mind when he was unahle to stop them for analysis.' — Church Itevi a.

' In these tinie< of rash and irreverent speculation, when there Is such a strong propen-
sity to exalt reason and to depn itb, it is well to see how one of the most colossal
and majestic intellects of which the < Ihurcb could ever boast, bowed meekly and implicitly
ity of the word of God.' — Mtthidist Recorder.

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT EXPOUNDED,

ami xiirc

HARMONY OF THE EVANGELISTS.

Translated respectively rv
Rev. W. FINDLAT, M.A., and Rev. 8. D. F. SALMOND, M.A.

//< One ]'<>!

St. At tie himself looked on the 'Harmony1 as one of his mosl exhaustive
aks of tin' themes here dealt with as matters which were
discussed with the utmost painstaking.

s translation is about the 1> .->t substitute for the I riginal thai skill and labour could
luce. Host undoubtedly they are much pleasanter reading than .St. Augustine's Latin.'
— Church R I

'A won lorful monument of genius and learning consecrated to the noblest ends, nud
the more we read, the more we Admire.'— Baptist Slag

T. and T. Clark's Piiblicatio7is.

WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE
DONATIST CONTROVERSY.

Translated by J. R. KING, M.A.,

vicar of st. peter's in the east, oxford, and late fellow and tdtcr cp

merton college, oxford.

In One Volume.

' His Donatist Lectures are not only intrinsically valuable, but they present a vivid
picture of the times, and throw great light on the conditions of thought and life in the
Church.' — British Quarterly Review.

' It is a great advantage to English-speaking Churchmen to be enabled to study
the works of so great a mind as Augustine's, who lived in an age which called forth all
his powers, and whose writings are still suitable for some of the chief controversies of
our own times.' — Record.

ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE;
THE ENCHIRIDION,

BEING A TREATISE ON FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE ;

ON THE CATECHIZING OF THE
UNINSTRUCTED;

ON FAITH AND THE CREED.

Translated by Professor J. F. SHAW and Rev. S. D. S ALMOND.

In One Volume.

This Volume comprehends four most important Treatises, all of which have their

own special value.

'I cannot express, my beloved son Laurentius, the delight with which I witness your
progress in knowledge, and the earnest desire that you should be a wise man, — not one of
those of whom it is said: ''Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer
of this world ?" but one of those of whom it is said: " The multitude of the wise is the
welfare of the world," and such as the apostle wishes those to become whom he tells :
" I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil." . . . I will,
therefore, in a short discourse, unfold ihe proper mode of worshipping God.'

'A valuable book for tho theologian. In the four treatises which it contains he will
find, ready to hand, in a very excellent translation, the teaching of the great Augustine on
questions which are fermenting in the world of religious thought at the present day, and
challenge discussion at every turn. He will also meet with practical suggestions so fresh
in tone, and so directly to the point, that they might have been the ideas of a contemporary
speaking in view of existing creeds.' — Church Bells.

'The translation flows with quito remarkable ease.' — Church Review.

T. and T. Clark 's Publications.

THE ANTI-PELAGIAN WORKS OF
ST. AUGUSTINE.

Translated bt PETEB HOLMES, D.D., F.R.A.S.,

DOMESTIC OHAFLAIH TO THB kigiit BOX. Tin: COUNTESS OF r.OTIIi B.

In Thr\ i ivo ( Vol. •"> in preparation).

1 It is a privilego ..f genius to be adapted to tho future as well ns to the present. Tliis
is finely exemplified in the Christian genius of tfa p of Hippo.' — Record.

• No man can understand the history of doctrine without understanding the works of
By his writing lagianism. We are therefore happy

to 6eo that these are to be published in our own language.' — Bibliotheca Sacra.

ly well translated, with scholarly ability and with excellent taste.'— Union
w.
■ No uninspired treatise on the subject of sin and grace is better fitted to bring to view
the true the seed-truths, and the largest wealth of suggestive thought on this

subject, than these great treatises.' — Print i to.

LECTURES & TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN.

Translated by Rev. JOHN GIBB and Rev. JAMES ENNES.

In Two Volumes.

'Of great and perpetual interest.' — Guardian.

1 Beautifully prin I got up; the translatio ful, accurate, and readable.' —

Church BeUt.
'In Is I (ommentary we are reminded of the frequi ncy with which the

igustine Lave been repeated bj ten of the Bible.' — /..■

ra.

■ Were I ipital illustration of the principles laid down in

t r.-rv I itrine." Theydisj real greatness of the author's mind,

human nature on all its aidi i

bJa rare powi r of moul ■ • rn of bis own ; it is bi lb

refreshing and re-invigorating to eunio thus into contact with him.' — Baptist Magazine.

THE CONFESSIONS OF ST. AUGUSTINE.

An entirely new Translation.

Wirn copious Notes, Historical and Explanatory, bt

, .1. <;. PILKINGTON, M A .
Vioab of St. Mask's, Dmjsiob.

Iii Om Volume.

T. and T. Clark's Publications.

In Twenty-four Handsome 8vo Volumes, Subscription Price f~6, 6s. od.,

&ntc=Niccne (ffiijristtau iUfcrarg.

A COLLECTION OF ALL THE WORKS OF THE FATHERS OF THE
CHRISTIAN CHURCH PRIOR TO THE COUNCIL OF NIOEA.

EDITED BY THE

REV. ALEXANDER ROBERTS, D.D., AND JAMES DONALDSON, LL.D.

MESSRS. CLARK are now happy to announce the completion of this Series.
It has been received with marked approval by all sections of the
Christian Church in this country and in the United States, as supplying what
has long been felt to be a want, and also on account of the impartiality, learn-
ing, and care with which Editors and Translators have executed a very difficult
task.

The Publishers do not bind themselves to continue to supply the Series at the
Subscription price.

The Works are arranged as follow : —

FIRST YEAR.

APOSTOLIC FATHERS, comprising
Clement's Epistles to the Corinthians;
Polycarp to the Ephesians; Martyr-
dom of Pol ycarp ; Epistle of Barnabas ;
Epistles of Ignatius (longer and shorter,
and also the Syriac version) ; Martyr-
dom of Ignatius ; Epistle to Diognetus ;
Pastor of Hernias ; Papias ; Spurious
Epistles of Ignatius. In One Volume.

JUSTIN MARTYR; ATHENAGORAS.
In One Volume.

TATIAN; THEOPHILUS; THE CLE-
mentineRecognitions. In OneVolume.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, Volume
First, comprising Exhortation to Hea-
then ; The Instructor; and a portion
of the Miscellanies.

SECOND YEAR.

H1PPOLYTUS, Volume First; Refutation
of all Heresies and Fragments from
his Commentaries.

IREN^EUS, Volume First.

TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION.

CYPRIAN, Volume First; the Epistles,
and some of the Treatises.

THIRD YEAR.

IREN^US (completion); HIPPOLYTUS
(completion) ; Fragments of Third
Century. In One Volume.

ORIGEN: Do Principiis ; Letters; and
portion of Treatise against Celsus.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, Volume
Second ; Completion of Miscellanies.

TERTULLIAN, Volume First : To the
Martyrs; Apology; To the Nations,
etc.

FOURTH YEAR.

CYPRIAN, Volume Second (completion);

Novatian ; Minucius Felix ; Fragments.
METHODIUS; ALEXANDER OF LY-

copolis ; Peter of Alexandria ; Anato-

lius ; Clement on Virginity ; and

Fragments.
TERTULLIAN, Volume Second.
APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS; ACTS AND

Revelations, comprising all the very

curious Apocryphal Writings of the

first Three Centuries.

FIFTH YEAR.

TERTULLIAN, Volume Third (comple-
tion).

CLEMENTINE HOMILIES; APOSTO-
lical Constitutions. In One Volume.

ARNOBIUS.

DIONYSIUS; GREGORY THAUMA-
turgus ; Syrian Fragments. In One
Volume.

SIXTH YEAR.

LACTANTIUS ; Two Volumes.

ORIGEN, Volume Second (completion).
12s. to Non-Subscribers.

EARLY LITURGIES AND REMAIN-
ing Fragments. 9s. to Non-Subscri-
bers.

Single Years cannot be had separately, unless to complete sets ; but any Volume
may be had separately, price 10s. Gd., — with the exception of Origen, Vol. II., 12s. ;
and the Early Liturgies, 9s.

T. and T. Clark's Publications.

LANG E'S

COMMENTARIES ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS.

Translations of the Commentaries of Dr. Lattge and his Collaborateurs
on the Old and New Testaments.

Edited by Dr. PHILIP SCHAFF.

There are now ready (in imperial 8vo, doable columns), price 21s. per
Volu

OLD TESTAMENT, Eight Volumes:

COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS, in One Volume.
COMMENTARY ON JOSHUA, JUDGES, AND RUTH, in One

COMMENTARY ON THE BOOKS OF KINGS, in One Volume.
COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF JOB.
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS, in One Volume.
COMMENTARY ON PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, AND

THE SONG OF SOLOMON, in One Volume.

COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS,
COMMENTARY ON MINOR PROPHETS, in One Volume.

The other Books of the Old Testament are in active preparation, and will be
announced as soon as ready.

NEW TESTAMENT (now complete), Ten Volumes:

COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW.
COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPELS OF ST. MARK and ST.

LUKE.

COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE

ROMANS.

COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL TO THE

CORINTHIANS.

COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL TO THE

GALATIANS. EPHESIANS, PIIILIPPIANS, and COLOSSIANS.

COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLES TO THE THESSA-

LONIANS, TIMOTHY, TITUS, PHILEMON, and HEBREWS.

COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLES OF JAMES, PETER,

JOHN, and JUDE.

COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

■I. isive and i .' . . . We hail its publication as a

valuable addition to tho stores of our Biblical literature.'— Edinburgh R» i

The price to Subscr the Foreign Theological Library, St. An

Works, and Ante-Nicene Library, and Meyer's Commentary on the I
ament, <>r to Purchasers of Complete Sets of the Commentary (so fai a

published;, will bo

FIFTEEN SHILLINGS PER VOLUME.

Dr. LaNQB'S Commentary on tho Gospels and Acts (without Dr. SCHATP's

No: oreion Theological Library, in Nino Volumes

demy 8vo, and may be bad in that form if desired. (For particulars, see I
of 1 d Library.)

8 T. and T. Claries Publications.

M E Y E R'S

Commentary on the New Testament.

ESSRS. CLARK beg to announce that they have in course of
preparation a Translation of the well-known and justly esteemed

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL

COMMENTARY ON THE NEW TESTAMENT,

By Dr. H. A. W. MEYER,

Oberconsistorialrath, Hannover,

Of which they have published —

FIRST YEAR.

ROMANS, Two Vols.
GALATIANS, One Volume.
ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Vol. I.

SECOND YEAR.

FIRST ISSUE.
ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Vol. II.
PHILIPPIANS AND COLOSSIANS, One Vol.

The Subscription is 21s. for Four Volumes, Demy 8vo, payable in advance.

In order to secure perfect accuracy, the Publishers have placed the whole
work under the editorial care of Rev. Dr. Dickson, Professor of Divinity in the
University of Glasgow, and Rev. Dr. Crojibie, Professor of Biblical Criticism,
St. Mary's College, St. Andrews.

Each Volume will be sold separately at (on an average) 10s. 6d. to Non-
Subscribers.

Intending Subscribers will be kiud enough to send their orders either
direct to the Publishers at 88 George Street, Edinburgh, or through their
own Booksellers.

' I need hardly add that the last edition of the accurate, perspicuous, and learned com-
mentary of Dr. Meyer has been most carefully consulted throughout ; and I must again,
as in the preface to the Gilatians, avow my great obligations to the acumen and scholar-
ship of the learned editor.' — Bishop Ellicott in Preface to his ' Commentary on Ephesians.'

1 Meyer has been long and well known to scholars as one of the very ablest of the
German expositors of the New Testament. We are not sure whether we ought not to
say that he is unrivalled as an interpreter of the grammatical and historical meaning of
the sacred writers. The publishers have now rendered another seasonable and important
service to English students in producing this translation.' — Guardian.

' The ablest grammatical exegete of the age.' — Philip Schaff, D.D.

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