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It may now, however, be appropriately remarked, that the happiness which he enjoyed from divine communion, and the misery which he endured from its loss, must both have been unspeakably augmented by this association, which moreover imparted an infinite dignity and value to his atoning sacrifice. The demonstration of the immediate or physical cause of the death of Christ which has now been given serves, therefore, to illustrate and confirm the scriptural doctrine of atonement; which, when rightly understood, is evidently worthy of universal acceptance, demanding alike the homage of the understanding, and the adoration of the heart.

CHAPTER II.

ON THE TYPES AND PROPHECIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

IN RELATION TO THE DEATH OF CHRIST.

EVANGELICAL religion, the remedy which God has provided for the restoration of human nature from its fallen and degenerate state to his favor and friendship, although revealed with more or less clearness at different periods of the world, has always been essentially one and the same. Previously to the advent of the Saviour, it could scarcely be represented otherwise than through the medium of types and prophecies, with which both the patriarchal and the Mosaic dispensations were therefore duly provided. In the preceding chapter it was shown that the peculiar cause and manner of the death of Christ, now presumed to have been demonstrated, furnish a new and powerful illustration of the principle of atonement, the fundamental doctrine of the gospel. In the present one it will be shown that the same fact throws a remarkable light on the types and prophecies of the Old Testament relative to the same subject, and that some of them could not by any other means have been explained or fulfilled.

Of scriptural prophecies, or divine predictions respecting coming events, it seems to be a necessary rule that, until the time of their accomplishment, they are to a certain extent mysterious and obscure; for it is obvious that an unreserved disclosure of futurity to the human race would in general be incompatible with their actual con

dition, as well as with the regular accomplishment of the events predicted. It is indeed the dictate of revelation, as well as of reason,-"that no prophecy of Scripture furnishes its own interpretation; "—and the very circumstance, that precisely such an amount of information is in this manner afforded as tends to do good, without being liable to abuse, is in itself a strong proof of divine superintendence.* Another, and not less striking proof of the same kind is suggested by the connection of these prophecies with appropriate types; that is, with familiar illustrations of important facts or principles by sensible and similar objects. Owing to the happy combination of these two modes of instruction, the one supplying certainty, the other clearness, those cardinal truths of Christianity which are necessary for salvation were from the earliest times sufficiently declared and inculcated for practical purposes. No sooner had the first parents of mankind fallen from their original state of innocence and happiness, than it pleased God to give them a prediction, and a type of restoration. The prediction, remarkable for its sententious brevity, assured them that one of their descendants, who should be in a peculiar sense-" the seed of the woman would crush the head of Satan, the infernal serpent by whom they had been beguiled into sin; and that the victor himself would be wounded in the conflict. The type consisted in the rite of animal sacrifice, appointed at the same time as the basis of acceptable worship, plainly intimating that for the reconciliation of sinners to God, the violent death of a suitable victim, offered to him as their substitute, was absolutely necessary. Hence originated

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* 2 Peter, chap. 1, ν. 19-21. Τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες, ὅτι πᾶσα προφητεία γραφῆς ἰδίας ἐπιλύσεως οὐ γίνεται.

Gen. chap. 3, v. 14, 15 ;—2 Corinth. chap. 11, v. 3;-1 Tim. chap. 2, v. 13, 14;-Heb. chap. 2, v. 14, 15;-Revel, chap. 12, v. 9; chap. 20, v. 1, 2.

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the use of skins for vesture, which by his command they then adopted, and by which he practically taught them that, although in the dignity of their native innocence. they had no need of clothing, they could not as fallen creatures be permitted to enter his presence, except in the garb of atonement. The prediction conjoined with the type conveyed to them therefore the important information, that the future Saviour would be one of their race, yet descended from a female parent only; and, as such an event implies divine interposition, and every work of God is perfect, would possess a pure and immaculate human nature, wherein by the sacrifice of himself he would render an atonement for the sins of mankind, and deliver them from the tyranny of Satan, who by instigating his death would unwittingly contribute to the destruction of his own power. Thus, by the divine prerogative of regarding the future as the past, Christ was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, . . . . whom God "says the apostle Paul,-"foreappointed [to be] a propitiatory [sacrifice] through faith in his blood, to demonstrate his justice, because of the seeming impunity of previous sins through the forbearance of God, to demonstrate his justice at the present time, [and to show] that he is just even in justifying him that believeth in Jesus; "—a passage of the greatest value, and, with the exception of a somewhat similar one in the first epistle of Peter, almost unique. It is highly probable that, owing to their peculiar position, as well as to their superior knowledge derived from former intercourse with the Deity, these comparatively brief declarations were sufficient for the spiritual instruction and guidance of the primeval pair, and through them of their antediluvian descendants. At that early period, however, as in later times, the gracious plan of salvation, although cordially embraced by a few, was by the majority of men rejected to their own perdition,

It was, for example,-" by faith that Abel offered to God a more complete sacrifice than Cain, and on that account is recorded [in Scripture] as a just person, God [himself] testifying concerning his gifts; "—while Cain, who presuming on the sufficiency of mere natural religion repudiated the atonement, was disapproved, and still persisting in the same evil course, incurred the guilt of fratricide, and the penalty of malediction.* By this solemn transaction it was plainly proved that animal oblations, representing the sacrifice of Christ, were divinely instituted from the beginning; and this simple but expressive rite was ever afterward employed for the same purpose till, as the shadow gives place to the substance, the type was at length superseded by the reality.

Still further to designate the purity and beneficence of the future Saviour, a distinction was also established between clean and unclean animals, those only being accepted for sacrifice which exhibit a mild and gentle nature, subsist on vegetable food, and are friendly and serviceable to mankind. Thus-"Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof,”—as an offering to the Lord; and after escaping from the deluge,—“ Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar."-The animals which Abraham was directed to sacrifice, on his admission into the Israelitish covenant, were the heifer, the goat, the sheep, the dove, and the pigeon; but, when at a later period he was commanded to present his only son Isaac as a burnt-offering on Mount

**Ον προέθετο ὁ θεὸς ἱλαστήριον διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι, εἰς ἔνδειξιν τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὑτοῦ, διὰ τὴν πάρεσιν τῶν προγεγονότων ἁμαρ τημάτων ἐν τῇ ἀνοχῇ τοῦ θεοῦ, πρός ἔνδειξιν τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὑτοῦ ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ, εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν δίκαιον, καὶ δικαιοῦντα τὸν ἐκ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ. Romans, chap. 3, v. 23-26;-Gen. chap. 4, v. 1-12;-Heb. chap. 11, v. 4;-1 Peter, chap. 1, v. 18-21;-Rev. chap. 13, v. 8.

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