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maintained by the writers of the Old Testament, compared to its constant inculcation in the New, forms the grand distinction betwixt these respective portions of revelation; clearly evincing the truth of the apostle's assertion, that the way into the Holiest was not made manifest while the ancient sanctuary subsisted. It will, perhaps, be replied-Are we then to renounce the notion of the typical nature of sacrificial rites? and, in contradiction to the author of the Hebrews, assert that this bore no reference to the great Propitiator? Nothing is more foreign from the purpose of these remarks.

were ever materially different, is a gratuitous supposition, totally devoid of proof.

In discussing this point, it is expedient to distinguish betwixt the fact and the doctrine of the atonement. The aspect of the atonement of Christ, considered as a transaction, is towards God; considered as a doctrine, towards

man.

Viewed in the former light, its operation is essential, unchangeable, eternal: "he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Considered in the latter, its operation is moral, and therefore subject to all the varieties incident to human nature. The cross, considered as a meritorious That the ceremonial law was a pre-basis of acceptance, the only real satisfiguration of good things to come, and owed its validity and efficacy entirely to the analogy which it bore to the true sacrifice, is placed beyond all reason. able controversy. All that is contended for is, that the reference which it bore was not understood during the subsistence of that economy; that it is not to be considered as an interprctation of the doctrine of the atonement, so much as a sort of temporary substitute for that discovery; and, that it was a system of ciphers, or symbols, the true interpretation of which was reserved to a future period. It is not more essential to the existence of a type, that its import be understood before it is verified, than it is essential to prophecy that its just interpretation be comprehended before it is fulfilled. If we consider the benefit derived to the ancient church from prophecy in its strictest sense, we shall find it consisted, not in making men prophets, or enabling them to foretell future events, but rather in maintaining high and consolatory views of the providence and attributes of God, accompanied with a firm but humble assurance of his gracious interposition in their concerns.

A general expectation of the Messiah's advent, as of some glorious and divine personage, who would bestow the highest spiritual and temporal felicity, without descending to details, or foreseeing the precise method by which his interposition was to become effectual, appears to have nearly bounded the views of such as "waited for the consolation of Israel." Thus, vague and general, at least, were the expectations of the faithful at the time of his appearance; to suppose they

faction for sin, is the centre around which all the purposes of mercy to fallen man have continued to revolve; fixed and determined in the counsel of God, it operated as the grand consideration in the divine mind, on which salvation was awarded to penitent believers in the earliest ages, as it will continue to operate, in the same manner, to the latest boundaries of time: hence it is manifest that this great transaction could admit of no substitute. But that discovery of it, which constitutes the doctrine of the atonement, though highly important, is not of equal necessity. Its moral impression, its beneficial effects on the mind, were capable of being secured by the institution of sacrifice, though in an inferior degree; while the offender, by confessing his sins over the head of the victim which he afterwards slew, distinctly recognized his guilt, his just exposure to destruction, and his exclusive reliance on divine mercy.

By such elements of penitential sorrow and humble submission, accompanied with a general expectation of a Messiah, devout worshippers were prepared for the reception of the sublime mysteries of the gospel; and thus "the law became a schoolmaster to lead them to Christ."

When St. Paul asserts, that the same law was a shadow of "good things to come, and not the very image of the things," he clearly intimates an essential difference between the two economies, and that the Mosaic did not afford that acquaintance with the method of pardon and reconcilement which constitutes the distinguishing glory of the gospel.

But if the Levitical sacrifices instruct- | conception of the way in which it ed the pious Jew in the doctrine of would be displayed, or by what exvicarious atonement as it is now ex- pedient its exercise could be renderhibited, they were already possessed ed consistent with the immutable of the substance, and the law could holiness and justice of the divine nawith no propriety be styled a school- ture. master intended to lead them to Christ who had already arrived thither.

The passage, to which we have already adverted, which affirms that the way into the Holiest of all was not made manifest during the continuance of the first tabernacle, merits attentive consideration. From this and other similar passages, many of the fathers were led to infer, that the souls of departed saints were not immediately received at death into the beatific vision, but waited for their future crowns till the general resurrection, while some of them were permitted to accompany our Saviour at his ascension, as trophies of victory over the last enemy. As this is a notion which, it is probable, few at present will be disposed to embrace, so it was the necessary result of interpreting the words in too absolute a sense, and of transferring to the objects themselves, what may with more propriety be referred to the conception entertained of those objects. Chrysostom paraphrases the text by remarking, the way into the holiest, or into heaven, was (aßaros) inaccessible; St. Paul merely affirms, that it was not made manifest. Distinct from these two interpretations, it seems impossible to find a third; the words must either intend that the way itself was not opened, or that the knowledge of it was not communicated, which is equivalent to asserting that the doctrine of the vicarious sacrifice of Christ was reserved to be developed in a future day.

If the justice of these observations be admitted, the situation of Jewish believers will appear, indeed, to have been far removed from that of Christians; and the gospel dispensation will derive a prodigious accession of splendour from the comparison. It will be seen that they were" shut up," to use the language of inspiration, unto the faith to be revealed; that their state was comparatively gloomy, though not hopeless; and that they were upheld by general assurances of Divine mercy, confirmed by the acceptance of their offerings; while they possessed no clear and distinct

"Ibunt obscuri solu sub nocte per umbras."

Led by the way that they knew not, the obscurity with which they were surrounded must often have dismayed them; while the perturbations of conscience, on every recurrence of guilt, would clothe the last enemy with new terrors, and deepen the shades which invest the sepulchre. Hence arose that language of despondency, uttered by Hezekiah, David, and others, in the prospect of dissolution, together with the gloomy pictures which they frequently drew of the regions beyond the grave, natural to such as were "all their life, through fear of death, subject to bondage." Exposed to danger, from which they knew no definite mode of escape, and placed on the confines of an eternity feebly and faintly illuminated, they had no other resource besides an implicit confidence in mysterious mercy.

But, notwithstanding the extreme imperfection of their views, inasmuch as they cordially embraced the promises of God, in the proportion in which they were then propounded, and cherished the expectation of a great Deliverer in the person of the Messiah, they possessed the spirit of faith. Genuine faith, considered as a principle, is characterized, not so much by the particular truths which it embraces, as by its origin, its nature, and its effects. When St. Paul describes the faith by which the elders obtained a good report, he re fers not to the mysteries of the gospel, but specifies the persuasion, that the worlds were made, or created, by the word of God, in opposition to the opinion that they were formed out of pre-existent matter, which universally prevailed in pagan philosophy; he also enumerates among its legitimate objects, the belief" that God is, and that he is the rewarder of such as diligently seek him ;" and whoever examines with attention the various examples which he adduces of the operation of that principle, must be convinced that the idea of a vicarious propitiation is not absolutely essential to its nature, however necessary to salvation it has

become, in consequence of the clear | seed of Abraham, already adverted to revelation of that doctrine. in these essays.

Here then, in all probability, consists the peculiar glory of the gospel, in contradistinction from the economy of Moses, that it deciphers the figures of the law, accomplishes and absorbs every purpose of its sacrifices, and dispels the obscurity which concealed eternal realities, by placing in a refulgent light, that great mystery, hid from ages and generations, by which God can be just, yet the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus." Thus the rigour and reserve, which, under the ancient economy, generated a spirit of bondage, is exchanged for the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

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ESSAYS то THE JEWS. (Continued from col. 338.) Essay IV.-Of the Change of Abram's Name, and Circumcision instituted. In the xviith chapter of Genesis, at the 4th verse, God said to Abram, "Behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram; but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made (or constituted) thee."

The promise, that Abraham was to be the father of many nations, by the constitution or appointment of God, evidently implies more than that he was to be the father of a numerous natural progeny descended from his loins. In this respect he did not require to be made or constituted a father; but was naturally the father of his descendants, like every person else, without being made or constituted so. It therefore regards his appointment to be a father in a different sense from that of a natural father, even "the father of the faithful," as he is elsewhere styled, or father of believers of all ages and nations. As the name Abram signifies a father, so that of Abraham signifies the father of a multitude, expressive of the promise, "A father of many nations have I made thee."

This constitution or appointment of Abraham to be the father of many nations, or of believers of all nations, from the beginning to the end of the world, as well as being the father of a numerous natural progeny, lays the foundation for the two-fold

Agreeably to this distinction between a spiritual and carnal progeny belonging to Abraham, does the whole scheme of salvation, revealed in the scriptures, proceed. As the apostle declares that it is not the children of the flesh, who are the children of God; so, to constitute this spiritual relation, something more is necessary than mere natural descent. It was the pride, and, 1 may add, the ruin of the Jews of old, to plume themselves on their descent from Abraham, the friend of God; but the gospel, as a system which stains the pride of human glory, leaves no room for any to glory on such accounts. The doctrine of human depravity, and of regeneration or the new birth, are doctrines as clearly taught as any contained in the scriptures of truth. Accordingly, even upon the Jews, the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, were these doctrines inculcated, and shewn to be of indispensable obligation to them, as much as to the Gentiles. Whatever privileges the former might enjoy above the latter, in having "the oracles of God committed to them; and in being Israelites, to whom pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is God over all, and blessed for ever;"-they were still both on a level as it respects their state before God. If the one were sinners, dead in trespasses and sins, and needed the regenerating influences of the Spirit of the living God; the other also, when tried by their own scriptures, (see Rom. iii.) are no less found to be all under sin; that every mouth might be stopped, and the whole world become guilty before God, to the intent that there might be one way of salvation, and but one only, for all men.

Let us now attend to the institution of the rite of Circumcision. See Gen. xvii. from the 9th to the 14th verse, where God enjoins this rite on Abraham and his posterity; and under a penal sanction requires the observance of it.

What was thus required was immediately complied with, as we learn from the conclusion of the chapter. Verse 23d to the end.

ham, which he had, being yet uncircumcised. For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they who are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect."

It is manifest from this passage, that the ordinance was designed to be a sign or token of the covenant which God here established with Abraham and his seed. Paul calls it "a seal of the righteousness of the faith of Abraham, which he had, being yet uncircumcised," Rom. iv. 11. The faith which the patriarch had in his But as the apostle mentions circumuncircumcised state, is mentioned in cision as a seal of the righteousness of Gen. xv. 6. It is there said, that the faith which Abraham possessed in “Abraham believed the Lord, and he his uncircumcised state; the question counted it to him for righteousness." comes to be, Was it the same to his On which words, the apostle Paul descendants as to himself? If they gives a most beautiful comment, in had all been partakers of like precious the chapter just alluded to in his faith with him, there can be no doubt epistle to the Romans. The subject that it would. But circumcision being of which he is speaking, is that of intended also as a mark of national justification by faith, without the distinction, and dispensed, not only to works of the law. And he adduces the descendants of Abraham, and that this instance of Abraham's justifica- while eight days old, but to strangers tion, while he was yet uncircumcised, and sojourners, whether home-born, or to establish his point. He enters at bought with money, I confess, what it great length into the subject, and intended to signify or seal to them, if discusses it with much ability. He nothing of a carnal nature is to be adlays it down as a maxim, that where mitted, is not clear. It appears, indeed, works have any part in the matter of that, as the covenant of which circumjustification, the reward cannot be cision was a token, consisted of varigratuitous, but may be claimed as ous parts, and evidently included temmatter of right, ver. 4th. On the poral as well as spiritual blessings; other hand, when works are excluded, it would not only be viewed in referand faith the only thing required, then ence either to the one or the other, his faith is counted for righteous- according as the recipients of it hapness." He does as much as say, in pened to be carnal or spiritual; but the 6th, 7th, and 8th verses, that they that it was designed by God, in this and they only are blessed, and freed two-fold sense, to represent the corfrom condemnation, who are thus responding parts in the covenant. Nor justified. Resuming, then, the subject can there be any doubt, that the same he had started in the 29th verse of the principle would incorporate itself with preceding chapter, where he says, "Is every other part. The land of Canaan, he the God of the Jews only? Is he for instance, was included in the covenot also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the nant; and being a goodly land, Gentiles also, he asks, verses 9, 10, land flowing with milk and honey," as chapter iv. "Cometh this blessedness, the scripture expresses it; it cannot then, upon the circumcision only, or be doubted that many of the carnal upon the uncircumcision also? For Israelites, having got possession of it, we say, that faith was reckoned to would bless themselves for the goodAbraham for righteousness. How ness of their fortune, and say, This is was it then reckoned? When in cir- our rest, here will we stay. But to the cumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not spiritually minded, Canaan, with all in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. her fair prospects, was incapable of And he received the sign (the mark) of satisfying their longing desires. Viewcircumcision, a seal of the righteous-ed as their only portion, it was lighter ness of the faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised; that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: and the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abra

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than vanity, and totally destitute of any real good, except when taken in connexion with their chief good, and as affording types and shadows of better things to come. Hence, to the former, the threatening to dispossess them of a portion they so highly valued, in case of disobedience, would be exceedingly terrible, as the idea of

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coming short of the better rest, which is typified, would be to the latter.

or animals slain at the ratification of the covenant, Gen. xv. 9. and afterwards It is evident that circumcision was the foreskin of the males, throughenjoined on Abraham and his descend- out their generations, it would point ants, as a test of their obedience to the out the cutting off of the promised commandments of God. In Gen. xvii. | Seed, God's true Berith, whose blood 9. God requires Abraham to keep his was to cleanse from all sin, 1 John i. 7. covenant, "Thou and thy seed after But further, it denoted also the thee, in their generations. In the | cutting off of the sins of the flesh. next verse, he informs him what it Hence it was used figuratively by the was he required of them, and how prophets, to signify the circumcision they were to testify their obedience, of the heart, Deut. x. 16. Jer. iv. 4. by observing, as a perpetual statute, And hence Paul's remarkable words, the ordinance of circumcision. "This Rom. ii. 28, 29. "He is not a Jew is my covenant, which ye shall keep who is one outwardly, neither is that between me and you, and thy seed circumcision which is outward in the after thee; every man-child among flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inyou shall be circumcised." Thus was wardly; and circumcision is that of it to be to them a test of obedience; the heart, in the spirit, and not in the and see with what an awful sanction letter, whose praise is not of men, but it was enforced: ver. 14. "And the of God." Not that the apostle is uncircumcised man-child, whose flesh| here denying that the literal circumciof his foreskin is not circumcised, that sion was circumcision, nor yet that the soul shall be cut off from his people; descendants of Abraham, who had this he hath broken my covenant." mark literally in their flesh, were his Further, this ordinance being insti- | descendants; but he is drawing a contuted at the time that the promise of trast between this kind of descent, the Saviour was restricted to a par- and this kind of circumcision, and that ticular family, and abrogated upon its which is spiritual in the heart, and, accomplishment, another design of its not in the letter, as the whole coninstitution would be, to point to this nexion abundantly shews. It is event. And this it would do by con- | therefore evident, that the words cirstituting a kind of national distinction cumcision and uncircumcision, in the between the progenitors of the Savi- spiritual as well as in the literal sense, our and the other nations of the world. are used as collective nouns, and, in Hence we read of the uncircumcised this sense, are synonymous with bePhilistines, &c. liever and unbeliever, righteous and wicked, and so on.

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Upon the whole, then, from these two last views of the subject, what a glorious and beautiful harmony do we perceive in divine truth! An order and necessity of things which has existed from the beginning, and will exist even to the end! that "without the shedding of blood there could be no remission; that, even from the earliest times, except men were converted, and became new creatures, circumcised in the heart, as well as the flesh, their literal circumcision, or connexion with Abraham, could profit them nothing. (To be continued.)

The following passage from Josephus, the Jewish historian, tends forcibly to corroborate this idea. His words are, "The fore-mentioned son (Ishmael) was born to Abraham when he was eighty-six years old. But when he was ninety-nine, God appear ed to him, and promised him that he should have a son by Sarai, and commanded that his name should be Isaac; and shewed him, that from this son should spring great nations and kings, and that they should obtain all the land of Canaan by war, from Sidon to Egypt. But he charged him, in order to keep his posterity unmixed with others, that they should be circumcised in the flesh of their foreskin, and that this should be done on the eighth day after they were born.” Vid. Jewish | VALUABLE ADVICE TO YOUNG TRADESAntiq. b. I. chap. x. ver. 5.

The ordinance being restricted to

males, would also shew that the pro

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MEN, AND HINTS TO OLD ONES.

(By Common Sense.)

mised seed was to be a male; and 1. CHOOSE a good and commanding then, by cutting off, first the Benith, | situation, even at a higher rent or pre

No. 77. VoL. VII.

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