CHAPTER XIII.

THAT THE LAW WAS FIGURATIVE:

To establish at once the authority of both Testaments, we have only to observe, whether that which is prophesied in the one, be accomplished in the other.

In order to examine the prophecies, we must first of all understand them. For, supposing them to have but one sense, the Messiah cannot be come; but, supposing them to have two senses, he certainly is come, in the person of Jesus Christ.

All the question, therefore, is, whether they have a double meaning? Whether they are figures or realities; that is to say, whether we ought to seek something more in them than immediately presents itself, or whether we ought to confine ourselves to that construction which offers itself at first view?

If the law and the sacrifices were the substance, they would necessarily be acceptable to God, and not be displeasing to him. If they were only figurative, they would be both pleasing and displeasing to him, in different respects. Now, throughout the Scripture, they both please and displease him; therefore they were only figurative.

To see clearly that the old dispensation was merely figurative, and that the prophets when they spake of temporal blessings had others in view, we have only to consider, first, that it would be unworthy of God

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to call men to the enjoyment of nothing but temporal happiness; and secondly, that while the words of the prophets clearly convey a promise of temporal blessings, they yet affirm that their expressions are obscure, that their meaning is not that which appears obvious at first, and that it would only be understood by the issue of events. They therefore knew they were speaking of other sacrifices, another deliverer, &c.

It must also be remarked, that their expressions would contradict and invalidate each other, if by the words law and sacrifice, only the law and the sacrifices instituted by Moses are to be understood. Nay, there would be a manifest and gross contradiction in their writings, and sometimes even in the same chapter. From whence it follows, that they must have had something further in prospect.

It is said, that the law shall be changed; that the sacrifice shall be changed; that they shall be without kings, without princes, and without sacrifices; that a new covenant shall be established; that the law shall be renewed; that the commandments they had received were not good; that their sacrifices were abominable, and that God had not required them.

It is also said, on the other hand, that the law shall abide for ever; that the covenant shall be eternal, the sacrifices perpetual; that the sceptre should never depart from them, till the everlasting King was come. Do these expressions prove the law to be the substance? No. Do they demonstate it to be the figure? No. But that it must be either the substance or the figure. Now the former by excluding the substance, prove it can only be the figure.

All these passages taken together cannot be applied to the substance; but they may be all applied to the figure; therefore, they were spoken of the figure, and not of the substance.

To know whether the law and the sacrifices are

real or figurative, we must take notice whether the prophets in speaking of these things, had their views and their thoughts so entirely fixed on them, as to look no further than the old covenant; or whether they did not discern somewhat else, of which all this was a representation; for in a picture we discover the thing represented. Now in order to this, we need only examine what they say.

When they say the covenant shall be everlasting, do they mean the same which they affirm shall be changed? And so of the sacrifices, &c.

The prophets have expressly said, that Israel shall always be beloved of God, and that the law shall endure for ever. But they have likewise said, that their meaning was hidden, and would not be understood.

We have a double meaning in a writing in cypher. Suppose we intercept an important letter, in which we are told there is one obvious meaning, and that, nevertheless, the sense is so obscured, that we shall even see the letter without seeing it, and understand it without understanding it; what are we to judge, but that the cypher has a two-fold meaning? which is moreover apparent from the evident contradictions we meet with in the literal construction of it. How ought we then to esteem those who decipher this writing to us, and make us acquainted with its hidden meaning; especially when they go upon principles perfectly natural and clear. This is what Jesus Christ and his apostles have done: they have opened the seal, they have rent the veil, and laid open the spiritual sense. They have taught us, that our enemies are our passions; that our Redeemer is to be a spiritual Redeemer; that he is to have a first and a second coming; the one in humility to abase the proud, the other in glory to exalt the humble; that Jesus Christ is God, as well as man.

Jesus Christ made it his whole business to teach men that they were lovers of themselves; that they

were enslaved, blind, distempered, miserable, and sinful; that it was needful he should deliver them; enlighten them, bless them, and heal them. That this was to be effected by hating themselves, and following him by poverty, and the death of the

cross.

"The letter killeth." It was necessary that Christ should suffer. In a God who has humbled himself; in circumcision of the heart; a true fast, a true sacrifice, a true temple, a two-fold law, a two-fold table of the law, a two-fold captivity,—we behold the cypher he has presented to us.

He has now taught us that all these things were but figures; and what it is to be truly free; to be a true Israelite; wherein consists true circumcision, the true bread of heaven, &c.

By these promises every one may detect which lies nearest his heart, spiritual or temporal blessings ; God or creatures; but with this difference,-that they who look in the promises only for creatures, find them attended with numerous contradictions, with a prohibition to love them, and with a command to worship God alone; and to love nothing but him; whereas they who seek God in them, find him without any contradiction, and with a pleasing command to love none but him only.

The sources of the contrarieties in Scriptures, are a God humbled to the death of the cross; a Messiah triumphing over death by dying himself; the two natures in Jesus Christ; his two-fold coming; and the two states of the nature of man.

As we cannot justly describe a man's character without accounting for all his contrarieties, and as it is not enough to pursue a train of agreeable qualities, without explaining those which appear to be opposite; so in order to understand the sense of an author, all the contrary passages must be reconciled.

In order, therefore, to understand Scripture, we must have a sense in which all the opposite passages

agree. It is not sufficient to have one in which many consonant passages unite, but we must have one in which the most dissonant shall agree.

Every author either has a meaning in which all the different passages will agree, or he has no meaning at all. The latter cannot be said of the Scriptures, nor of the prophets; they unquestionably had too much good sense. We must therefore look out for a meaning by which all the discordant parts may be reconciled.

Their true sense, therefore, cannot be that of the Jews. But in Jesus Christ all the contradictions are harmonized.

The Jews could not make the abrogation of the royalty and principality, foretold by Hosea, accord with the prophecy of Jacob.

If we take the law, the sacrifices, and the kingdom, for the things ultimately designed, we shall not be able to reconcile all the passages of the same author, nor of the same book, nor often of the same chapter; and this sufficiently discovers the intention of the author.

The Jews were not permitted to offer sacrifice, or so much as to eat the tenths, out of Jerusalem, which was the place that the Lord had chosen.

Hosea foretold, that the Jews should be “ without a king, without a prince, without sacrifice, and without idols.” Which is at this time accomplished; for no sacrifice can be legally offered out of Jerusalem.

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Whenever the word of God, which is true, would be false if taken literally, it is true spiritually. thou on my right-hand;” literally this is false, yet spiritually it is true. In such expressions God speaks after the manner of men; and this only implies, that the same intentions as men have in making others sit at their right-hand, God will also have with respect to the Messiah. It is therefore a mark of the divine intention, but not of the manner in which it is to be carried into effect.