when Christ was presented there, according to the law. He recognizes the promised of the Lord, and closes his eyes in peace. Anna, the prophetess, instructed by the same Spirit, gives a similar testimony, and speaks of "the holy child to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem."* The circumstances of extreme danger which attended the birth of Moses and of Christ, and the wonderful means of their preservation and deliverance, constitute a striking mark of resemblance between them. Behold the longlooked-for deliverer of the Jewish church and nation, ready to perish by the hand of Pharaoh: and the great King and Head of the christian world, threatened by the murdering dagger of the tetrarch of Galilee; while the earth was watered with the blood of their infant brethren. Moses is saved from destruction by the daughter of the tyrant who sought his life; he finds an asylum and a school in the house which he was destined to plague and to humble. And Jesus of Nazareth finds shelter in Egypt from the fury and jealousy of Herod. The personal beauty and accomplishments of the Israelitish lawgiver were probably intended to typify, in an inferiour degree, the personal glory and excellency of Him, concerning whom the prophet thus writes, "Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee forever."+ The wretched state of Israel when Moses was born, and of the world when Christ came to save it, are a melancholy and affecting counterpart to each other. The former, subjected to the arbitrary authority of a sanguinary tyrant; the latter, in dreadful captivity to the prince of the power of the air, that "murderer from the beginning;" "that spirit which ruleth in the children of disobedience." Their mental qualities present a lovely and an instructive similitude. "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls."§ Compassion for his afflicted brethren, early discovered the temper, and marked the character of Moses, the man of God. Sympathy with the miserable, and that sympathy effecting seasonable relief for them, marked the paths of the Son of God through a world of wretchedness. "I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue now with me three days, and have nothing to eat : I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint by the way."|| "When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd." Over the grave of Lazarus "Jesus wept." "When he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. And The offices which Moses and Christ were called of Providence to execute, present us with points of likeness which it is impossible not to see, and equally impossible to mistake. "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face; in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants, and to all his land: and in all that mighty hand, and in all that great terror, which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel."++ "No man hath scen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Moses was king in Jeshurun, and conducted the thousands of Israel through many difficulties and dangers to their destined * Luke ii. 38. Matt. xv. 32. + Psalm xlv. 2. Numb. xii. 3. ‡‡ John i. 18. 6 Matt. xi. 29. habitation; Jesus, God's "anointed King over his holy hill of Zion," brings his "many" spiritual "sons unto glory. To constitute one deliverer for Israel, Moses and Aaron must unite their talents, must combine their force, must conjoin their offices: the prophet must cooperate with the priest; two distinct persons carry on one design; but, in the Saviour of the world, all talents, all virtues, all offices meet and centre: the prophetic inspiration of Moses, Aaron's pleasantness and grace of speech; the regal dignity of the one, the sacerdotal purity of the other. In order to put Israel in possession of the promised land, Joshua must succeed to Moses, and happily finish what his master has so successfully begun. But the great Captain of salvation needs no coadjutor, can have no successor : "He gives grace and glory;" He leads his redeemed through the wilderness, introduces them into Canaan, maintains them in quiet and everlasting possession. Other lines of resemblance will appear as we prosecute the history, and shall not therefore be anticipated. But we must not dismiss the subject without pointing out wherein the likeness fails, and how much the type falls short of the object which it represents. The wonders performed by Moses in Egypt, were wrought by a power delegated to, and conferred upon him for the purpose. The miracles of Christ were produced by a power original and inherent. Moses, though the meekest of all men, was betrayed into rashness, lost temper, and " spake unadvisedly with his lips." But in Jesus behold a spirit which was never ruffled, a tongue in which guile was never found; lips that never offended; a mind which no insult could disturb, no unkindness provoke; nor even the horrid pangs of an unmerited death rouse to resentment. "Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a Son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of hope firm unto the end."* Moses died and was buried. Jesus died and was buried, and rose again." Moses received the law; Christ gave it. Moses and Elias attend the Saviour on mount Tabor, as his ministering servants; Jesus receives their attendance and homage, as their Lord. Having spoken of the resemblance between the authors of the two dispensations, we proceed, as was proposed, to speak in the same view of the two dispensations themselves. And first, They rest on one and the same authority, are dictated by the same unerring wisdom, and are directed to the same great and glorious end. Indeed, one of the great proofs that both are of God is the conformity of both to the nature and condition of man. The precepts of the law are not novel constitutions, which had no existence till the days of Moses: neither are the consolations of the gospel new discoveries of grace, unheard of till the four thousandth year of the world. Sinai thundered and lightened in Adam's conscience the moment he tasted the forbidden tree, and drove him to seek refuge "from the presence of the Lord God amidst the trees of the garden." The terrors of the law raged in Cain's guilty breast, long before there was any record written on brass or stone. And the promises of pardon and salvation are coeval with the conviction of the first offender, and the denunciation of his *Heb. iii. 1, &c. punishment. The tongue which pronounced on man the doom of death, proclaims the glad tidings of life and recovery. I know that the law is of God, for I have that within me which acknowledges and approves its rectitude and excellency; and even when it condemns me, I am constrained to call it "holy, just and good." I know that the gospel is of God, for I feel that within me which welcomes its approach, discerns its suitableness, rejoices in its fulness, rests upon its truth. It is of God, for it descends to the level of my guilt and misery, corresponds with my hopes, suits my necessities. Our blessed Lord took an early opportunity of explaining himself on this subject. An absurd idea prevailed, that the kingdom of the Messiah was to be a total subversion of the Mosaic dispensation. An absurdity into which some christians have inadvertently given, for want of making a plain and necessary distinction, between those particulars of the law which are in their own nature eternal and unchangeable, like the nature of that God who is its author; and those, which being typical and prophetical, ceased of course when the predicted event arrived, and the type, having fulfilled its design, was lost in the thing typified; and those which, being temporary and transitory, ceased with the occasion of them. Of the first sort are the precepts of the decalogue, or the ten commandments; which, under every constitution that affects such a being as man, must be immutable and everlasting. Of them it is that Christ said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."* Of the second class are the laws of the daily sacrifice, the great annual feasts, the levitical priesthood, and the like. They pointed out Christ the Lord, they led to him, they were lost in him. And in the third rank we place the law of circumcision, the political economy of the Jewish nation, all that related to the possession of Canaan, and which ceased of course with the dissolution of their government, and the loss of their national importance. These observations being attended to and kept in mind, will prevent the confusion arising from the ambiguous acceptation of the word law," as expressing the Old Testament dispensation. The law, then, and the gospel, the two tables of stone delivered to Moses, and the " grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ," coincide, secondly, in this, that they both point out with equal clearness and force the necessity of a Saviour. Every word pronounced by the voice of God from Sinai, is in truth a sentence of condemnation While it enjoins future obedience, it fixes past guilt. While it says, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath," it accuses of idolatry. While it recommends the observance of the sabbath, it charges home the violation of it; and so of the rest of the precepts of the decalogue. The law, therefore, carried the gospel in its bosom, as the new changed moon exhibits a great body of obscurity, embraced by a small semicircle of light; but which is to be irradiated by degrees, till the whole becomes one great globe of light and glory; and Moses performs the part of "a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ." To hear of a constitution by which I might have lived, after my life is forfeited, is only to embitter my misery. It is like hearing of a cordial after a man has swallowed poison. Now, it could never be the design of the gracious Lawgiver to insult human misery, by holding out a system which could avail the guilty nothing. While, then, the divine justice lays down the law in all 122 its strictness, purity and extent, saying, "I am the Lord who will by no means clear the guilty;" "Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them ;" condescends to give a law at all, the wisdom which explains it, the patience the goodness which that forbears to punish its transgression, all plainly and distinctly proclaim the necessity and the existence of an atonement, and lead to "the bringing in of a better hope." Thirdly, The spirit of both dispensations is a spirit of love. ces upon Israel obedience to the law from Sinai, by the consideration of his God enforbeing the Lord, which "brought them up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage:""who has borne them on eagle's wings, and brought them to himself." And "love" on the part of man "is the fulfilling of the law." Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."+ The gospel, in like manner, has its source in love, the love of God: and its great aim and end is to produce love to God. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "And we love him because he first loved us." Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then "The love of were all dead and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."§ And, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."|| "He that says he loves God, and hateth his brother, is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" And, when both shall have produced their full effect, "perfect love shall cast out fear," the voice of God shall be unaccompanied with thunder and lightning, cloud and tempest. The storm is in the mind of the guilty creature. The wrath of fire is not in God, but in fallen man; in "the carnal mind, which is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."** all is at peace. When that is extinguished, The aim and labour of the gospel is not to reconcile God to man; but to reconcile men to God: for "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him."+t 66 Fourthly, Both the legal and evangelical dispensations equally discover to us our distance from God. The one, by enumerating and declaring our of fences; the other, by enumerating and declaring the tender mercies of our God. The law treats us as alienated friends, whom it is needful to convince, to reprove, and humble. The gospel considers us as friends restored, no “longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;" once darkness, but now light in the Lord: once afar off, but made nigh by the blood of Christ." The law shows us how far we have deviated from the path of duty and happiness; the gospel conducts us back through our wanderings, unravels the intricacies and errors of our dark steps, and replaces us in our father's house. Moses informs us that we are wrong, "like sheep going astray:" Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life," and takes us under the care of "the shepherd and bishop of souls." Moses points out the dreadful depth into which we have fallen, the dreadful distance from heaven to hell; Christ reveals the glorious height to which we are raised, the glorious distance from hell to heaven. Moses tells me what I ought to be and "And you hath he to do; Christ makes me such as he would have me to be. * Gal. iii. 10. John xiii. 35. + Matt. xxii. 37, &c. + John iii. 16. ¶ 1 John iv, 20. 62 Cor. v. 14, 15. quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience : among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ; (by grace ye are saved) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."* But the law was delivered to the world in a very different manner from the publication of the gospel; in fire that burned, in tempest that roared, in a cloud that darkened, in words that threatened. It awed men into distance; it inspired terror. But the gospel comes in light that consumes not, in glory that dazzles not, in language that threatens not. The law says, "Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever touches the mount shall surely be put to death. There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live; when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish." The gospel says, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out."§ But to the impenitent and unbelieving, the gospel speaks the same terror which the law did from Sinai; nay, it wears a still more frowning aspect. "Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile."|| "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him."¶ "He that despised Moses's law died without mercy, under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace."** And on the other hand, to them that believe, the law speaks in the mildest, gentlest language of the gospel ; for "there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin."‡‡ "And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."§§ I know not whether the whole bible contains an expression of goodness more singular and striking than these words which issued from the mountain that burned with fire. Our fears are alarmed at the mention of the great and dreadful name "The Lord God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children." But justice has its limits. It may be stretched out to the third or fourth generation of offenders. Yet the "Lord will not strive continually, neither will he keep his anger forever." But grace knows no bounds. When mercy is to be extended, it looks forward and forward, from a third and a fourth, to thousands of generations of them that love God. In what promise of the New Testament is the love of God preached more sweetly than in this precept of the Old? * Eph. ii. 1, &c. + Exod. xix. 12, &c. Matt. xi. 28. John vi. 37. **Heb. x. 28, 29. §§ Exod. xx. 6. |