giver. And God himself pointed out Jesus as that prophet, by using the very. same expression concerning him, at his transfiguration; on the mount, This is my beloved son-hear ye him. Matt. xvii. 5.

In this sense therefore Christ fulfilled, or was the completion of, the law; and upon attentive consideration it will be seen, that all the ritual observances of the Mosaic law, were so framed, as to be types of, and fulfilled in him. They serve to prove (although certainly they could not then be understood) that the great event of the redemption of mankind, was the constant care of God; that these laws were not given to the Jews as an end, but as a means *; that the people from whom the Messiah was to be born, might be kept completely separate from all other nations; and that among them the knowledge of

For some of them, as the prophet says, Ezek. xx. 25, were not good: that is, not of perpetual obligation, nor necessary to be observed, in point of any moral excellency, but only as positive statutes, solely in obedience to the command of God.

the

the one only God might be preserved, till that Redeemer should come.

But concerning the exact application of the typical and ritual part of the law to Christ, though it is well and strongly pointed out, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the general direction of it clearly shewn, yet in the detail it is encumbered with many difficulties. And as such minute explanations, are foreign to the present purpose, it will be sufficient here, just to specify some of the most remarkable and obvious of these typical allusions, in order to shew how they were fulfilled, according to their original design, in Jesus Christ.

Thus for instance, the High Priest of the Jews was a type of our Lord. For as he only was permitted to enter into the inner recess of the Tabernacle, or Temple, called the Holy of Holies, and that only once a year, to make atonement for the sins of the people; so is there still only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, 1 Tim. ii. 5, and by him we have now received the atonement, Rom. v. 11. So likewise the High Priest was anointed G

with

with oil, whereas the other priests were only sprinkled with it; and of our Saviour it is said in the Psalms, with my holy oil have I anointed him; and God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness, above thy fellows; and the word Christ, or Messiah, itself means the anointed.

The Tabernacle also, in which the glory of the Lord appeared, before the Temple was built, may be considered as a type of our Saviour. For St. John uses a remarkable expression concerning him, with an evident allusion to this part of the Mosaic institution, that he dwelt among us as in a tabernacle†; and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. So that as the glory of God filled the Tabernacle of the old testament, Exod. xl. 34, Christ also dwelt among us in a tabernacle with the glory of his only begotten son.

So likewise, if we observe the sacrifices appointed under the old law, we shall find them to be types or figures of Christ.

* Godwyn's Moses and Aaron.

* Εσκηνωσεν εν ημιν. John i. 14.

The

The Jewish sacrifice was to be without blemish, publicly offered, and the offences of the sinner who offered it, were supposed to be laid upon it. Thus is our Redeemer said to be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate fram sinners, Heb. vii. 26. Thus is he said by the prophet, to be wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, to bear the sin of many, and to make intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah liii.

In this manner, might each particular sacrifice, be shewn to be typical of our Lord, and the design of it fulfilled in him ; but it is sufficient in this place, merely to point out the most striking circumstances, which prove the general design of the ceremonial part of the Mosaic institution. And the more closely this is examined, the more clearly it will be seen, that the whole of it has a direct reference to that Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world*.

This

*For farther information, on this curious and interesting subject, see Stackhouse's "Hist. of the Bible," Whitby

This last, among many other passages of the new testament, shews that this is no fanciful or unwarrantable explanation, of the views of the old law, since it obviously relates either to the scape-goat, which bore the sins of the Israelites, and carried them into the wilderness, Levit. xvi. 10, &c, or to the lamb of the Passover, or perhaps to both. For with regard to this last, St. Paul himself expressly refers it to our Saviour. Christ our passover, says he in 1 Cor. v. 7, is sacrificed for us; and it is probably for this reason, that the twelfth chapter of Exodus, which contains the

on the New Testament, and indeed almost every commentator; and more especially the whole epistle to the Hebrews, should be examined and compared, with the marginal refer

ences.

Though the Hebrew word for the young, either of the goat or the sheep is the same, (as is noted in the margin of our Bibles, where the passover is referred to) yet a lamb was certainly meant, because the same ambiguity does not exist in the Greek; and in the New Testament the word Lamb is always used. In the early ages, there was probably but little difference between the sheep and the geat, for Buffon asserts, that they proceed from the same original stock.

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