the language of the Apostle, the devout Jew was, by the statutes of the Law, "shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed 1."

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Nor would the knowledge acquired by attention to the revelations then afforded, have the effect of rendering such enquirers indifferent to the observance of the Law; for the same spirit which led them reverently to meditate on the counsels of Divine Wisdom, would also teach them to observe faithfully all the ordinances of God, in joyful hope of the blessings to which they were preparatory.

Such seems to have been the measure of instruction afforded by the legal types, previously to their fulfilment. In the mean time, while the secret of the Lord was thus concealed from the wicked, and a few faint glimmerings of light were granted to the faithful, a striking evidence was laid up in the types of the Law, against the time when the vail should be done away in Christ. The ordained agreement between the sacrifices of the Ceremonial Law and the death of Christ was such, that its completion at once fulfilled the hopes of the pious Jew, and rendered inexcusable the blind rejectors of Christ. He who obstinately adhered to the Mosaic ritual, and alleged its Divine origin, was condemned by Moses himself. To him who questioned the wisdom of the legal or

1 Gal. iii. 23.

2 2 Cor. iii. 14.

St. John v. 45.

dinances, was offered explanation. For the faithful disciple of Moses, who hesitated to lay aside suddenly the institutions of his God, who wavered between the miracles presented to his eyes, and the authority of the Law, an evidence was provided by that law itself to clear up all his doubts. To the whole nation of the Jews was offered liberty and release from the "yoke which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear," while the spirit and intent of the Mosaic Law was preserved and fulfilled, under the easier yoke and lighter burden of the law of Christ.

Lastly, the types of the Law of Moses have served to the testimony of the Gospel, wheresoever the Gospel has been preached. To all who can compare the appointed rites of the Law with the facts of the death of Christ, their agreement has borne a clear and exact witness to the Lamb of God. For the things concerning Jesus, which could not have been plainly told by prophecy, consistently with the plan of partial concealment, were by the types pourtrayed with wonderful minuteness and accuracy. They are profitable both for evidence and for instruction; they tell us that Jesus who died, was appointed to die from the beginning; and they teach us, by their principle of atonement, that he died as the propitiation for our sins. Let the rites of the Passover be com

1 Acts xv. 10.

pared with the sufferings of Jesus, and we can scarcely conceive a clearer prophetical evidence than their agreement offers. But the sense of the prophecy lay hid for ages; the vail of obscurity was upon it, till the time of its fulfilment, when "Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us."

In this view of the instruction afforded by types, we cannot attribute any share to the extra-legal types of the death of the Redeemer. There was no contemporary notice, and it does not appear that any subsequent prophecy ever gave intimation of their hidden import, till the appearance of Jesus. We know not what light was granted to the favoured individuals of old time, but to the Jews at large, we must conclude that these types were as mere historical facts. The three principal of these are, the offering of Isaac, the brazen serpent, and the burial of Jonah in the belly of the fish; all of which will be examined hereafter, with a view to the evidence which they afford to us at the present day. For Jesus at his coming has both declared and fulfilled their hidden prophetic design.

PART II.

We now proceed to examine a few of the principal instances of typical prefiguration in the Old Testament. In a view so limited as ours must be, it is of importance to select such examples as may best illustrate the doctrine of types, and add the fullest confirmation to our faith in Jesus. Many, therefore, will be omitted which are not certainly warranted by the words of Scripture, and all those which, not having reference to our Saviour, are not so directly profitable to the edifying of our faith, or “our instruction in righteousness." And it is so ordered by the wisdom of Providence, that the instances of types relating to Christ, are those most clearly established on the authority of God's word.

The argument from typical prophecy, as has been observed, rests on the comparison between events related in the Old Testament, and the facts of the Gospel history. We do not attempt to prove the truth of these facts by the prophetic types, but to shew that there is a connexion, a designed connexion, between the earlier and the

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later events. It is not, therefore, an argument addressed so much to those who deny or doubt the miracles of our Saviour, as to the Jews and others, who, admitting the miracles, deny that the ancient Scriptures are fulfilled in Jesus.

If any one should contend that the argument from prophecies and types is superfluous, and that admitting the truth of the Gospel histories, we have no need of further witness; let it be remembered that it is an argument which was necessary even for those who saw the miracles of our Lord. Jesus of Nazareth claimed to be the Christ, the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament; by examination of the Old Testament this claim must be verified. How necessary the evidence from the ancient Scriptures is, beyond the evidence from miracles, appears from the words of an adversary: "Miracles in this case can afford no help if the prophets have not spoken of Christ, all the miracles in the world will not prove that they have spoken of him1."

The events of the Old Testament, and the notices of prophecy which intimate their typical nature, are to be compared with the facts of the Gospel the marks of designed connexion are to be examined. The instances we shall consider are,

1. The offering of Isaac by Abraham.

Collins, Grounds and Reasons, p. 31.