THIS DISPENSATION A PREPARATORY MOVEMENT OF THE COUNSEL OF GOD IN CHRIST. In the rites and ceremonies appointed by the Mosaic law we perceive types of Christ and his kingdom. To prove this point, and thereby confirm his converts in the faith, was a main object of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews. Therein, after declaring the essential dignity of the Son by whom God had revealed himself, he shews that Christ had by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than the angels*-that he was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who had builded the house hath more honour than the house-that he was a high priest superior to Aaron, as he continuing ever had an unchangeable priesthood; and as he himself was passed into the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man §--that the law, making nothing perfect, and containing those things which were figures of the true, he was the Mediator of a better covenant established upon better promises,** and bringing in a better hope that he had entered in once into the * Hebrews, i, 4. § Ibid. viii. 2. ** Ibid. viii. 6. † Ibid. iii. 3. Ibid. vii. 24. ¶ Ibid. ix. 24. holy place, into heaven, not as the high priest of the worldly sanctuary by the blood of goats and calves to obtain an annual remission; but by his own blood to procure an eternal redemption for us *--and that when he came meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances were to cease, as they were imposed upon the people by Moses only until the time of reformation.+ Whether we contemplate the tabernacle in the wilderness or the temple in Sion - the inner sanctuary with the ark and its symbols-the vail that separated the holy place from the holy of holies the daily incense rising to heaventhe shew-bread placed upon the table before the Divine Majesty - the golden candlestick illuminating the sacred house-the laver containing the consecrated waters to wash away impurities -the priest making atonement for the peopleor the sacrifices without blemish burning upon the altar with the blood sprinkled round about it-we cannot but see a very extraordinary concurrence and accumulation of types and shadows prefiguring Christ and his kingdom. "No man,” however, as the Apostle testifies, "is justified by the law in the sight of God." Hebrews, ix. 12. ↑ Galatians, iii. 11. + Ibid. ix. 10. Although he fulfil the deeds of the law, and offer up all the sacrifices which the law enjoins, he is still under wrath and condemnation; "for the just shall live by faith; and the law is not of faith."* "Wherefore, then, serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made." It" was our schoolmaster to bring men unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith" in him, who "is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."§ "It entered that the offence might abound;"|| for "by the commandment sin became exceeding sinful;" and as "it is written, cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the law to do them,”** all were under the curse from which nothing but an unsinning obedience, of which they were naturally incapable, could deliver them. Although, therefore, the law was a divine dispensation, a shadow of good things to come, a preparatory arrangement for the promised grace; yet it could not justify in the sight of God, it could not through its sacrifices offered daily take away the guilt of * Galatians, iii. 11, 12. ** Galatians, iii. 10. + Ibid. iii. 19. Romans, x. 4. sin. This absolution, this justification, this expiation was to be effected, not under the ministration of the letter that killeth, but under the ministration of the spirit that giveth life; not under the law which was given by Moses, but under the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ. It Hence it is deduced that the Mosaic dispensation is to be considered as part of the counsel of God in Christ, inasmuch as under shadows and resemblances it represented Christ and his church; and was a divine counsel made known to the Israelites to prepare them for "the faith which should afterwards be revealed." disturbed none of the previous preparations for the coming of the Redeemer and his kingdom. It confirmed them all, and was the means of preserving them from oblivion by embodying them with the written law known to all the congregation of Israel. And thus we establish the harmony between the two covenants; for while we acknowledge that there is no redemption by Moses and the law, we cannot without Moses and the law confirm beyond all controversy the truth of the redemption by Christ and his Gospel. * 2 Corinthians, iii. 6. + John, i. 17. THE SERPENT OF BRASS ERECTED IN THE WILDERNESS, A TYPE OF CHRIST LIFTED UP ON CALVARY. An incident recorded in the book of Numbers throws a little more light upon the future designs of God, already opened in part by promise and prophecy. It appears that in the fortieth year, when the Israelites were expecting to be taken from their wanderings in the wilderness, and to be settled in the land of Canaan, they found themselves conducted back by the cloud of the Lord towards the Red Sea. In consequence of this they were much discouraged, and spake, not merely with inconsideration, but with angry remonstrance against the Lord and against Moses. "Where fore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread."* The anger of the Lord was kindled at this ungrateful, intemperate, and distrustful conduct in those who had received at his hands so many providential mercies, and who were living under a perpetual manifestation of his miraculous power. He, therefore, visited them with a heavy judgment. He sent fiery * Numbers, xxi. 5. H |