II.'

SECT. did the Law precede the Gofpel. And as Ifmael was banished from the presence of his father, and led a roving unfettled life in Arabia, his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him, in order that, he might make room for Ifaac; fo is the Law fuperfeded by the Gofpel, and fo are the Jews wanderers and vagabonds over the face of the whole earth, a proverb and

4.

Ifaac.

by-word among nations. Laftly, as the defcendants of Ifmael remain to this day a diftinct and peculiar people; fo are the Jews prevented, by a divine fatality, from blending with the inhabitants of thofe countries, through which they are dif perfed.

4. In purfuing the hiftory of Ifaac, we again find him a lively type of the great facrifice, which Chrift made for fin by his own death. Abraham is ordered to offer up his only fon on the mountain of Moriah, where he arrived on the third day; fo long a time therefore was Ifaac virtually dead in the eyes of his parent. Chrift, the only begotten of his father, was offered up on a mountain in the fame region, and remained under the power of death three days. As Abraham took the wood of the

burnt

burnt-offering, and laid it upon Ifaac his CHAP, fon; fo did Chrift bear his own crofs, on IV. which he was to be offered up, as an expiation for our fins. As Ifaac on the third day was delivered from the fentence of death, and reftored to the arms of his father and the enjoyment of life; fo did Christ on the third day rife triumphant from the grave, clad in the glorious robes of immortality.

We may likewife add, that there is a moft perfect resemblance between the type and the antitype in their patience and refignation. Ifaac yielded implicit obedience to the dictates of heaven, and made not the leaft refiftance to the arm of his father, though he was of fufficient age to have eafily overpowered the strength of an old man. Chrift meekly fubmitted to a painful and ignominious death, though he might by a fingle word have commanded the united efforts of twelve legions of angels to crush his enemies; or, without fuch inferior affiftance, have destroyed them in a moment by the breath of his noftrils.

Ifaac was the child of promife, and born out of the ordinary courfe of nature. The

SECT. child Jefus was promifed by a long train

II. of types and prophecies from the bevery ginning of the world, and born by the immediate agency of God from a pure virgin3.

St. Paul places it beyond a doubt, that Ifaac was really a type of Chrift. "By faith "Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Ifaac,-accounting that God was able to "raise him up, even from the dead: from "whence alfo he received him in a fi

gure." The word here rendered figure is in the original, wagaboλy, a parable. But a parable is a reprefentation of spiritual things by natural; in other words, a spe

There is a wonderful coincidence even in their ages. It is calculated by chronologers, that Ifaac, at the time of this event, was between thirty and forty, though called, after the cuftom of the Eaft, a lad. That he was under forty, is manifest from comparing the history with itself. The order of events is as follows. Abraham was commanded to facrifice Ifaac; at fome indefinite period of time afterwards, Sarah died; at another indefinite period of time after that, but certainly after the days of mourning for his mother were over, Ifaac married Rebecca, and we are told, that he was then forty years of age. Confequently, when the event under confideration happened, he muft in all probability have *been five or fix years wanting of forty. Chrift, according to the calculation of Sir Ifaac Newton, was, at the time of his crucifixion, about thirty-four.

h Heb. xi. 17, 18.

IV.

cies of allegory. The only difference be- CHAP. tween the parables of our Lord, and the parable of Abraham receiving his fon Ifaac from the dead, is this; the first are verbal, the fecond is practical. The very fame word (wagaboλn) is used by the Apostle, when declaring, that the tabernacle was a figure or type of better things to come1.

Well, therefore, might our Saviour fay to the Jews," Your father Abraham rejoiced to fee my day; he faw it, and was

66

glad m." A view of the fufferings and exaltation of the Redeemer had been granted to the great Patriarch of the Jewish nation, and he hailed with joyful gratitude the dawn of the Sun of Righteousness.

The difficulty, which the Jews found in believing Christ, because he was not yet fifty years old, was in reality no objection to the truth of his affertion. " Jefus faid "unto them, Verily, Verily, I fay unto

you, before Abraham was, I am." He,

i Thus Longinus de Subl. fect. xxxvii. Tais de peтapopass γειτνιωσιν αἱ παραβολαι και εικονες.

k Vide fupra, p. 79.

1 Heb. ix. 9.

In John vii. 56.

who

II.

SECT. who claimed the incommunicable name of I AM, must have exifted not only before Abraham, but before the foundations of the world were laid. It is plain that they thought him guilty of ufurping the name of God, because otherwise there will be no reason why they fhould, in confequence of thefe words, take up ftones to caft at him. Indeed, the peculiar grammatical construction of the fentence alone fhews clearly, that they were perfectly right in their fuppofition. Had Chrift been only fome created being, who exifted prior to Abraham, he would doubtlefs have faid, Before Abraham was, I was, as the natural grammar of the paffage requires; not, Before Abraham was, I am, which expreffion is utterly unintelligible, unless upon the fuppofition of the divinity of Chrift. Provided the doctrine of his Godhead be allowed, the fentence will then be perfectly clear; "I Jehovah, to whom past, present, and fu"ture are all alike, exift neceffarily, and by my own power, before the days of "Abraham."

5. The next type, which we meet with, Jofeph. is Jofeph. This Patriarch was favoured with vifions and revelations from God; but