CHAPTER III.

THE STATE OF ALL MANKIND BEFORE THE FIRST APPEARING
OF CHRIST, BY WHICH SALVATION IS REVEALED.

SALVATION is of two kinds: First, to be saved from outward
dangers, temporal enemies, and such like, which is properly
called salvation: And secondly, to be saved from the practice,
power, and nature of sin. A very different kind of salvation;
the former being temporal, and the latter spiritual.

2. The Lord saved Noah from the destruction of the old world; brought Abraham forth out of Ur, (i.e. the fire) of the Chaldees, and saved Lot from the overthrow of Sodom.

CHAP. III.

1 Sam. xix.

3. The children of Israel saw the salvation of the Lord at the Red Sea. And the Lord frequently wrought a great salvation 5. for Israel, in the land of Canaan; and, from time to time, gave them saviors, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.

Neh. ix. 27.

4. Yet all this was not salvation from sin; nor were the sariors, those who should judge the mount of Esau, when the king- Obad. 21. dom should be the Lord's. As sin was in the world until the law was given, that the offence might abound; so it remained in the world until Christ appeared.

5. "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats Heb. x. 4, should take away sins." Even the high priests were required 11; vii. 27. to offer sacrifices for their own sins, as well as for the sins of the

people.

6. The Prophets themselves were ignorant of that salvation, 1 Pet. 1. 10, and searched diligently to know when it would appear; unto 11, 12. whom it was revealed that it was not unto themselves they ministered the promise, but unto another people, yet to come; and they prophesied of him, in whom it should first appear, by Zech. ix. 9. the spirit of Christ that was in them.

7. It is remarkable, that, under the covenant of promise, names and characters were applied to many natural men, which in reality could be applied to Jesus Christ only.

8. Thus, God said unto Abraham, "I will make of thee a great nation; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." And of Isaac he said, "I will establish my covenant with him, for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him." The whole of which, in spirit and in substance, applies to Christ, and not to Abraham and Isaac, nor to their natural seed. The thing was typical, as has been shown.

9. Again. "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my

Isa. lxii. 11.

1 Pet. i. 11.

Ex. iv. 22.

CHAP. III. first born." This is also typical, and, in reality applies to none but Christ, and his true seed, who are in him by obedience.

Col. i. 15, 18. John, iii.

18.

Hist. of Redemp. p. 176.

p. 177.

Note N.

Ib. p. 197.
Note Z.

10. And, after the law was given to the Hebrews, "the whole nation," saith Edwards, "by this law, was as it were, constituted in a typical state; " which is true, as the Scriptures abundantly prove.

11. Upon which a certain writer justly remarks, that "Christians have the most unequivocal assertions of this in the New Testament. The law is called a shadow of good things to come. And the whole epistle to the Hebrews, and great part of that to the Galatians, is written to prove and illustrate this very point."

12. Another writer on a similar occasion, as justly remarks, on typical characters in general, that, "In order to constitute a proper type, it is by no means necessary, that the person who answers this important purpose, should possess perfect moral qualities." "That the comparison is not to be stated and purSac. Biog sued through every particular incident of the life, and every feature of the person typifying."

Hunter's

vol i. p.

275.

13. Then, as the line of the patriarchs, and the Law of Moses, were only typical of things to come, and were not the very substance of the thing typified; let not the shadow of a thing be mistaken for the substance.

14. The name or figure of a thing spiritual, is as distinct from the thing itself, as the name or picture of the sun, is distinct from the sun itself. The high priest of the children of Israel wore a mitre upon his head, with a plate of pure gold, on which was engraved, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And of the people it was Deut. xiv. said, "Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God."

Ex. xxviii.

2.

15. But did this make either the priest or the people holy? By no means. The whole nation were sinners, from Moses to the appearing of Christ, both priest and people: and this their sacrifices and offerings for sin, year by year continually, prove beyond all contradiction. And the same also prove, that they were perpetual transgressors of the moral law, the nature and requirements of which have been pointed out in the preceding chapter.

16. It is strictly true, however, that, while they punctually observed all the external rites and ordinances of the Law, they were counted blameless, and were blessed of God, above all other nations.

17. And in all those blessings, which were the fruits of their obedience, they verily were typical of what they were called; A holy and peculiar people; sons and daughters of God; and many other terms, that might serve as a "shadow of good things to come." All of which is clearly evinced in the New Testament, particularly in Paul's Epistles to the Hebrews and Romans.

18. And, when it is said, that Enoch, Noah, and others, CHAP. III. walked with God; it means nothing more, than that they walked in obedience to the commands of God, given them in their day.

19. Thus, Noah walked with God in his generation, in building an ark, &c.; Abram, in leaving his father's house; Moses, in bringing up the children of Israel out of Egypt; David was a man after God's own heart, to fulfil all his will; but all his will to David, was not all his will to another; David was a man of blood, therefore Solomon was chosen to build the temple; Jehu was anointed to cut off the house of Ahab; and Cyrus was the Lord's anointed to subdue the nations. But not one of them walked with God under the cross of Christ; nor were they anointed with power to save them from their sins.

20. It is true, that the Israelites "drank of that spiritual rock 1 Cor. x. 4. that followed them in the wilderness, and that rock was Christ;

or in other words, it was the same spirit of Christ, that spake by the Prophets, and testified of his coming.

lxxviii. 40,

21. But observe, instead of their following the spirit of Christ in Moses, that Spirit followed them, and strove with them, while they remained a stiff-necked and rebellious generation. "How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve Psalm him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel." And, "about the time of forty years, suffered he their manners in the wilderness." far distant, then, was this typical Israel from being the true Israel of God, whom they typified.

41.

So Acts, xiii.

18.

22. But, when the promised Messiah really came, instead of following them, he exhorted them to follow him, and testified that unless they did, they could not be his disciples. And further said, "If ye believe not that I am he, (that was promised) ye h shall die in your sins."

23. Therefore, it was not faith in a Saviour to come, that ever saved any people from their sins; nor did a law of types and shadows ever save any. The very intent, and substance of all that was typified, and promised to Israel, was salvation from all sin, by Christ, when he should appear, and not before. Every thing else, without a full and present salvation from sin, call it what you please, is nothing but an empty shadow; and as Paul justly expresses it, weak and beggarly elements.

24. Then how mistaken are they who imagine, that God saved one good man from his sins here, and another there; and, from Adam to Christ, doomed all the rest of the innumerable multitudes of the human race to eternal destruction, while it was impossible that ever one of them could be really saved, having no real Saviour. For, by the progressive dispensations of the work of God, the creation must necessarily be brought to that maturity, that a vessel of the human race might be prepared, as

John, viii.

Gal. iv. 9.

CHAP. III.

Rom. xi.

32.

Gal. iii. 22.

Heb. v. 9.

19, 30-35.

a medium through whom a Savior could be born into the world, before a real Savior could be revealed among men.

25. For how then could that scripture be true, which said, "God hath concluded them ALL in unbelief?" And again: "The scripture hath concluded ALL under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe." Not that did believe,* but that now believe. And who not only believe, but obey.

26. It is evident from the plain history of facts, that the real state of both Jews and Gentiles was equally and impartially considered, in the sight of God; and that all stood in equal need of a Saviour, from Moses to Christ.

27. The descendants of Abraham were taught the faith and Gen. xxxi. worship of the One true God; but very early, was idolatry introduced among them. Rachel stole the gods of her father, brought them to Mount Gilead, and artfully contrived to keep them.

XXXV. 2, 3,

4.

Amos, v. 25, 26.

Acts, vii. 42, 43.

28. Afterwards, however, Jacob, required his household, and all that were with him, to put away the strange gods that were with them; accordingly they were given up to Jacob, with all their ear-rings, and he hid them under an oak by Shechem.

29. And after this, again, in Egypt, they served strange gods. And even after they were delivered from the bondage of Egypt, forty years did the house of Israel carry, in the wilderness, the tabernacle of Moloch and Chiun, their images, the star of their god, which they made to themselves; as saith the Prophet Amos. Stephen explains it by calling them figures, or images, which they made to worship the host of heaven.

30. To this agree the words of Joshua, who, after having settled the Israelites in the land of promise, assembled them Josh. xxiv. together, and said, "Put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord."

14, & 23.

Deut. ix. 46, & 24.

Eccl. Researches, p. 22, 23.

31. It was therefore justly observed, that it was not because of the righteousness of the Israelites, nor for the uprightness of their hearts, that they inherited the land of promise; but to subserve the purpose of God in regard to a spiritual seed. For Moses declared that they were a stiff-necked people, and that they had been rebellious against the Lord, from the day that he knew them.

32. The conduct of the Israelites as a people, after they were in possession of the promised land, both under the judges and kings, need not be more clearly expressed than it is by Robinson;

33. "Moses and the Levites had put to death about three thousand men, for setting up the golden calf; but he had not

• The Jews did believe in a Messiah to come; but their past belief was rendered ineffectual, by their unbelief in him when present among them.

extirpated idolatry; it was practised all his time; and it was CHAP. III. practised in the time of Joshua, and it continued to be practised Ex. xxx||. under the judges through all this period. The people did 25. Deut. xxxi. serve, and would serve Baal and Ashtaroth; and although 15-25. Gideon checked foreign idolatry, yet he set up an idol of his own; and as soon as he was dead, the people turned again to Baalim, and made Baalberith their god.

34. "Samuel the last of the judges, observes that, in his time, they served strange gods and Ashtaroth: so that idolatry was practised through this whole period." Under the kings, is exhibited a code of statutes, like the former, "Which made idolatry and several vices capital crimes, and was a history of the perpetual violation of it. The kings were arbitrary, but far from enforcing the law, they broke it themselves, and protected others in doing so.

11-13.

Judges ii. vi. 25. 32. vui. 24, 27,

33.

1

Sam. vii.

3; & viii. 8.

xi. 5-8.

35. "David, who was an enemy to idolatry, committed adultery 1 Kings ix. and murder with impunity. Solomon, who built a temple for 25. Jehovah on one mountain at Jerusalem, built also an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on another; and though he sacrificed three times a year to Jehovah, yet at other times he went after Moloch, the God of Ammon, and Ashtaroth, the goddess of Zidon.

36. "Jeroboam, who reigned over ten tribes, set up calves of chap. xii. gold, made high places and priests, ordained festivals, and 25-33. offered sacrifices to idols. And Rehoboam, who reigned over xiv. 23, 24. the other two, either built, or suffered the people to build, high places, and set up images, and to consecrate groves, and to do all the abominations of the ancient inhabitants of the land. In this manner, in general, they conducted themselves through all this period.

1 Kings, xv. 13, 14. 2 Chron.

xxiv. 18

22.

37. "It is remarkable that the royal reformers were idolaters 1 Kings, x. themselves; for Jehu departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, 28, 29. the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan. Asa, who dethroned his mother, because she had made an idol (this was an obscene filthy idol) in a grove, did not take away the high places; and Joash not only left the house of the Lord, and served groves and idols, but murdered Zechariah, for remonstrating against idolatry, in the court of that very house of the Lord which he had pretended to purify from idolatry by shedding the blood of his mother and the Baalites. It is observable, further, that the people, who put others to death, did not reform themselves."

38. It is true, that, through the Hebrew nation, God hath verily performed his promise made unto Abraham, in raising up that seed in which all the families of the earth were to be blessed. But, when the long-suffering, patience, wisdom, and goodness of God, in dealing with that nation, in order to fulfil his promise, is rightly considered, it will appear marvellous