VIII.

In the prophet Elijah, we have a character LECT. prefigurative of the perfon and office of John the Baptift: whence it is faid in the 4th chap. of Malachi, bebold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he fhall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, &c. The scribes and pharifees, who took this paffage literally, expected that the prophet Elijah (whom the New Teftament calls Elias) would appear in perfon before the coming of the Messiah, and therefore, at the crucifixion, they obferved of Jefus with a fneer, that though he had not as yet received any teftimony from Elias, he might do fo, even upon the cross, if they did but give him a little more time-Let be, faid they, let us fee whether Elias will come to fave him*. By those whose minds were enlightened, it had been understood, not that the perfon of Elijah fhould come again, but the character; that the Spirit and power +† of that prophet should be revived and fulfilled in the character of the Baptift. Let us there† Luke i. 17.

* Matthew xxvii. 49.

fore

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LECT. fore compare them together. As to their perfonal appearance, we read that Elijah the Tishbite was an hairy man * (probably with a rough garment) and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And do we not read of John the Baptist his counterpart, that he alfo had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins? With respect to their manner of life, Elijah frequented the wilderness, and was fed in folitude: and John the Baptift was in the deferts, and came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and his meat was locufts and wild honey, proper to a man of a contemplative and holy life. In their office and minifty, which give importance to the other marks of their character, both of them were raised up for the great work of reforming a degenerate people, and turning to God those who had departed from him. Elijah brought over to Jehovah thousands of the people who had revolted to Baal: and John the Baptift warned a generation of vipers to flee from the wrath to come; and prevailed upon them to re1 Kings xix. 4.

*

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ceive that baptifm of repentance which was LECT. preparatory to the baptifm of the gospel. Elijah bore his teftimony without fear against two kings, Ahab and Ahaziah; one of whom was urged on by that wicked woman Jezebel, who had determined to put that prophet to death. So did John boldly rebuke Herod, a king under the influence of another wicked woman, who fought his life and fucceeded. Thus we understand how far thefe two were alike in their perfons, their manners, and their ministry; and with what propriety it was faid of John by the angel, that he should go before the Lord God of Ifrael in the Spirit and power of Elias. There is fome thing very remarkable to our present purpofe in the testimony our Saviour gave to John, as being the perfon in whom the character of Elias was fulfilled: 1 fay unto you that Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatever they lifted as it is written of him*. These last words plainly refer us to what was written of Elijah; from whofe hiftory it might be

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#

LECT. foreseen, what would become of John the Baptift; namely, that a wicked and powerful woman fhould thirst after his blood, and that a king should send his officers to take away his life. This was what they lifted to do against Elijah: therefore when Herodias perfecuted the Baptift, and Herod fent an executioner to behead him, they acted according as it was written. Elijah was miraculously preferved to be carried up alive into heaven: whereto John followed him, in a way more agreeable to the spirit of the Gospel, the way of martyrdom *.

We find another figurative character in the perfon of Ifaac the fon of Abrabam, whofe facrifice and deliverance were defcriptive of Chrift's death and refurrection. Abraham, fays the apoftle, offered up Ifaac, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead; from whence

* If the reader should be pleased with what is here said, he will be much more pleased with Confiderations on the Life and Death of John the Baptift, by Dr. Horne, the present Dean of Canterbury.

alfo

alfo he received him in a figure*.

The LECT.

history of this tranfaction informs us, that
on the third day Abraham lift up his eyes,
and faw the place where his fon was to be
offered up.
He laid upon Ifaac the wood
on which he was to fuffer, as Chrift
carried his own crofs: and when the knife
was lifted up to flay him, the angel of the
Lord interpofed, and Ifaac was received,
as it were, from the dead; having been
actually devoted to death in the mind of
his father for three days. In his fubstitute
the ram, a real facrifice was offered, as
Abraham had expected, and Ifaac was still
alive; fo that in the one we have a figure
of the death of Chrift, in the other of his
refurrection. And to render this tranf-
action more descriptive, the providence of
God directed Abraham on this occafion to
the mountains of Moriah, where the tem-
ple of Jerufalem was afterwards built; in
which the lamb Chrift Jefus was daily of-
fered up for many hundred years in the fa-

crifices of the law; and where Chrift him-
felf at length suffered; accomplishing all

VIII.