Another remarkable instance of type and its fulfilment, is seen in the transaction recorded by the prophet Zechariah xi. 12, in which the prophet himself was a remarkable type of our Saviour: "And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast it to the potter in the house of the Lord." St. Matthew, after relating the betrayal of our Lord by Judas, for thirty pieces of silver, and under the bitter remorse of his conscience, his returning the money to the chief priests, who appropriated it in the purchase of the potter's field, thus declares the fulfilment of the prophecy (Matt. xxvii. 9—10): "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by (Jeremy) the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me." Another example is that contained in Hosea xi. 1, 'When Israel was a child, then I loved him; and called my Son out of Egypt;" which is declared by St. Matthew to have been fulfilled in our Saviour, when, by the

This is not the proper place for discussing the difficulty connected with the insertion of the word Jeremiah in this passage. The judgment of Dr. Thomas Jackson is important; and he is of opinion that the word Jeremiah was inserted by some transcriber. "When, as the evangelist had only said, 'The prophet,' as his usual manner is, without any mention or intimation what prophet it was, leaving that wholly to the diligent reader's search and observation. For so he doth in that remarkable prophecy, Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son," etc.; he saith no more, than 'All this was foretold by the prophet,' without any mention or intimation of Isaiah's name; nor doth he name the prophet Hosea, when he records the fulfilling of his prophecy, 'Out of Egypt have I called my Son.' And in verse 23 of the same chapter, He shall be called a Nazarene;' he giving the reason why Joseph, by the disposition of the divine Providence, did divert his intended return into Bethlehem, where Christ was born, and took his dwelling in Nazareth, saith, 'This was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets' not so much as intimating the name of any one prophet by whom this was foretold. And if the curious reader would observe the allegation of prophetical testimonies throughout his whole gospel, he shall find the prophet's name, whose testimony he most faithfully records, concealed or omitted three times as often as it is expressed. And in those few places wherein the prophet's name, whose authority he allegeth is expressed, it may without any danger be questioned, whether they were so expressed or inserted by interpreters or transcribers."-Works, vol. ii. p. 986. And the learned writer makes the following remarks on the quotations from this passage of Zechariah :-"These last words cast a scruple, or rather a stumbling-block in many interpreters' ways, how the prophet Zechariah should be appointed of the Lord to buy the prophet's field. But this should be presently taken away if we consider that the evangelist, in the ninth and tenth verses, doth make a paraphrase or exegetical exposition upon the prophet's words. Now it was ever lawful, yea, the office of the apostles and evangelists, not only to quote the prophets, but to paraphrase upon, or expound, as well the literal as mystical sense of their words, or portendments of their facts."—Ib., p. 900.

command of God, Joseph took him into Egypt, that he might escape the vengeance of Herod; "That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my Son:" where, as is observed by an eminent commentator, "Israel is called God's Son, and his firstborn, Exod. iv. 22, 23; and therein was an eminent figure of the Messiah."

These are some of the most remarkable examples taken from the quotations of the New Testament, in which our Saviour and his apostles appeal to the types contained in the Old Testament. It is one distinguishing characteristic of these quotations, that they do not so much contain a literal citation of the original passages as point out their spiritual fulfilment.

Having, therefore, considered this branch of the subject, we will proceed to consider some of those quotations which refer to prophecies, of which the foundation is laid in the typical nature of the Patriarchal and Jewish dispensations; which, besides their primary fulfilment in the events which they immediately relate, have a secondary and spiritual fulfilment in the gospel; and in which the former event may be considered a type of the latter and more important fulfilment.

In making a selection from these texts, the first passage shall be from the prophecy in Isaiah xl., relating to John the Baptist. Now, the deliverance of the Jewish people from Babylon was typical of the deliverance of mankind by Jesus Christ; and to this subject the prophecies of Isaiah, from the fortieth chapter to the conclusion of the book, are chiefly directed. Of these prophecies, the most remarkable is that which, though addressed in the first instance to the messengers announcing the return of the Jews from the captivity at Babylon, is prophetical, in its second and greater fulfilment, of John the Baptist, as the forerunner of the promised Messiah; a fulfilment which is pointed out with a remarkable unanimity by the inspired writers of the New Testament. In order that we may fully appreciate the character of this prophecy and its fulfilment, it is necessary to compare the original prophecy with the citations of it by the evangelists. The original prophecy is this (Isa. xl. 3—5), "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert an high-way for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord

:

Lowth on Hosea xi. 1.

hath spoken it." Now the following is the manner in which this prophecy is quoted by the evangelists. (1.) St. Matthew, in relating the history of the preaching of John the Baptist, adds, "For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord" (Matt. iii. 3). (2.) St. Mark, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight" (Mark i. 3). (3). St. John, in relating the history of the persons who came to the Baptist, that they might enquire from him with regard to his person, and the object of his mission, has these words, "Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias" (John i. 23); and St. Luke, relating the preaching of John, thus points out the fulfilment of the prophecy: "As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

Now, the manner in which the evangelists have each of them given, in his own language, the spirit and purport of this prophecy, affords a good illustration of the manner in which the inspired writers appeal to the prophecies of the Old Testament. But it is, perhaps, seen more clearly in St. Luke; for after giving the substance of the prophecy, in words borrowed from another part of the prophet Isaiah, he points out its spiritual fulfilment (Luke ii. 4-6): "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God."y

y Isaiah lii. 10. "The Lord hath made bare his arm in the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the world shall see the salvation of God." The prophecies of the restoration of the Jewish people from the captivity at Babylon, are made the vehicles of the promises of God, with regard to the greater and more glorious deliverance. The following are the admirable observations of Bishop Lowth on this part of the fortieth chapter-"As the subject of his subsequent prophecies was to be chiefly of the consolatory kind, he opens them with giving a promise of the restoration of the kingdom, and the return of the people from captivity, by the merciful interposition of God. But the views of the prophet are not confined to this event; as the restoration of the royal family and of the tribe of Judah, which would otherwise have soon become extinguished and irrecoverably lost, was necessary, in the design and order of Providence, for the fulfilling of God's promise of establishing a more glorious and everlasting kingdom, under the Messiah, to be born of the tribe of VOL. VII.-NO. XIII.

E

The prophecy contained in Jeremiah xxxi. 15, as it is interpreted and explained by St. Matthew, affords another instance of prophecy in its secondary and ultimate fulfilment. The prophet Jeremiah, prophesying the departure of the Jews into captivity, thus describes the mothers of Bethlehem mourning over the loss of their children: "Thus saith the Lord, A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not" which St. Matthew declares to have been fulfilled, when Herod issued the cruel order for the murder of the infants in the district of Bethlehem: "Then was fulfilled," that is, in its secondary and ultimate fulfilment, "that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama there was a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not" (Matt. ii. 16-18). Nothing can be more clear than that this is a double prophecy; having reference, in the first instance, to the captivity of the Jewish people under Nebuchadnezzar, and their subsequent restoration from it; and, in the second instance, to the slaughter of the infants at Bethlehem. Whatever apparent

Judah and of the family of David; the prophet connects these two events together, and hardly ever treats of the former without throwing in some intimations of the latter; and sometimes is so fully possessed with the glories of the future and more remote kingdom, that he seems to leave the more immediate subject of his commission almost out of the question. Indeed, the language which is used by the prophets with regard to the restoration of the Jews, looks to some glorious fulfilment."-See Mr. W. Lowth's note on Isaiah xi. 11.

* Bishop Marsh in observing on the opinions of those persons who would apply the term accommodation to the fulfilment of this prophecy, has the following valuable remarks:-" In whatever case a passage of the Old Testament, which, according to its strict and literal sense, relates to some earlier event in the Jewish history, is yet applied either by Christ, or by an apostle of Christ, to what happened in their days, and, moreover, is so applied as to indicate that the passage is prophetic; of such passage we must conclude, on their authority, that, besides its plain and primary sense, it has also a remote, or secondary sense." And he afterwards applies this principle to the passages before us :-"The very passage," he observes, "which we have been just considering, is introduced with the words, Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet.' Hence it has been inferred that St. Matthew, who quoted the pasage, regarded it as a prophecy, at least in some sense, since the use of the term 'fulfilled' implies a prediction of that event in which it was foretold. And if, in the opinion of an inspired apostle, any passage of the Old Testament was a prediction of that event to which he himself applied it, we must conclude that such passage really was a prediction of that event, though we ourselves could not have discovered it."Lecture xx. And this connexion between the type and the antitype is thus pointed out by Dr. Thomas Jackson :-" The captivity or civil death of Judah and Benjamin under Nebuchadnezzar, their redemption thence, and restoration to their own land, were express types or prefigurations; the one of their bodily and spiritual death, the other of their resurrection from the grave and restoration unto paradise. And in this type it is included, that Rahel's present mourning for the bodily death of her sons, must have a new comfort, answerable to her former comfort, for their civil death and captivity."-Works, vol. ii. p. 451. See also Mr. W. Lowth's notes on Jeremiah xxxi. 15.

difficulty there may be in such an application of the prophecy, we have the authority of an inspired apostle for it; and we have, moreover, the additional consideration, that it is in perfect consistency with the general analogy of prophecy.

The last example which shall be brought forward of this class of prophecies, is that contained in Isaiah vii.-ix. 7. The first object of this prophecy was to assure the people of their deliverance by the birth of a child, who is described in chapters vii. 14; ix. 6; the secondary and principal object was the birth of that Saviour, in whom alone the magnificent titles, under which that child is foretold, could be fulfilled. In chapter vii. 14, God promises to Ahaz a child, of whom it is declared, that before it should come to the knowledge of good and evil, his land should be delivered from its enemies. "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings." In chapter viii. 1-4, the birth of another child is promised to the prophet, whom he was to call "Maher-shalal-hash-baz. For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria:" and "the children, which God had given him," the prophet declares, verse 16, "were to him for signs and wonders," or tokens, that God would accomplish for Judah this great deliverance. And after a farther description of their distress, in verses 21, 22, he repeats the promise of deliverance, and the dawn of happier days, on the birth of that child who was before described under the name of "Immanuel, God with us;" and who is again described under the magnificent titles of "Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace:" and it is moreover said of him, that “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever." It is certain that this child was given to the prophet as a pledge of the deliverance of his people: but it is equally certain that it could have its complete fulfilment in him alone, in whom St. Matthew, speaking by inspiration, declares it to have been fulfilled. "All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the pro

a For an excellent exposition of this prophecy see Mr. William Lowth's notes on Isaiah vii.-ix. 7.