21. The only other example to which I shall allude is a quotation in the epistle to the Hebrews, from the book of Deuteronomy, which contains a command to the angelic hosts to worship the Messiah. "When he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him." The expressions form a part of the song of Moses; and are introduced by the sacred writer in his representation of the heavens, the angels, and all the sons of God, as taking part with them in the subjugation of their enemies, and as worshipping their God. This appears to be the primary application of the language referred to; and in this sense it must have been highly consolatory to the people when they were about to be deprived of the counsel and direction of Moses.

22. But when the same language is used by the apostle, as containing a general command given to the angels of God to worship as their Lord and Creator the Only Begotten of the Father, in his incarnate state, it has a meaning and a force, which it by no means possesses in its original application. It becomes a prophecy equally clear and striking, of another leader like unto Moses, but of far superior power and majesty, who was to arise from among their brethren, to whom not only the nations around them were to be subjected, but whom all the angels of God were to be commanded to celebrate or worship when he appeared.

23. In its primary sense the prediction was fulfilled, when the Israelites, under the protection of the God of Abraham, subdued the inhabitants of Canaan, and obtained the quiet possession of their country; though this event, important as it was to the Jews, by no means corresponds to the ideas we receive from the part which the language of the prophecy assigns to the angels and to all the sons of God. But if we turn our attention to the ultimate application of the prophecy, we find the language of the prophet completely realized, when the angel of

God, and with him a multitude of the heavenly host, appeared to the shepherds of Bethlehem, praising God, and celebrating the birth of the Messiah, saying, "Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord: Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will to men." The prophecy quoted by the apostle after the event had happened to which it ultimately referred, was not only literally verified, but may be read as an exact representation of a recorded fact in the history of the Messiah's birth: "When he bringeth in the First-begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him."

24. These examples, illustrative of the double meaning of many of the prophecies recorded in the Old Testament, render it unnecessary to notice in detail the frivolous objections made by superficial thinkers to the correctness with which some of the passages found in the New Testament are quoted from the Old. They do not advert to the immediate as well as to the remote application. Some of the circumstances which they allege as objections only require to be fully examined in order to constitute them strong corroborations of the truth.

25. It is no real objection, for example, that the prophecies originally intended to have a double meaning, are not recorded according to any rule, or arranged in any order which human invention could have devised. It is admitted that they are scattered through every part of the Old Testament Scriptures, and that many of them have no perceptible reference to each other. They are frequently found as detached clauses in a writing which relates to other subjects; and are distinguished as genuine predictions of Christianity, either by their direct information of the New Testament, or by their manifest relation to the events to which they were ultimately intended to apply.

26. But a good reason may be assigned for this insulated form in which the predictions alluded to are to be found in the Old Testament Scriptures. When a prediction was intended to have an ultimate as well as a primary signification, it is evident that the place assigned to it in the record must have been regulated not by its remote but by its first application. It must have stood in its natural order in the history or writing of which it makes a part, and could not have been otherwise placed, without losing its original meaning and design. It was as essential to the spirit of prophecy, that every prediction should have been clearly connected with the events to which it primarily related, as that its ultimate application should not have been permitted to interfere with the ordinary course of human affairs, or with the free agency of mankind.

27. The existence of such prophecies in the Jewish record, from the commencement to the close of the ancient dispensation, the certainty of their primary accomplishment, and, at the same time, their exact correspondence, in their secondary interpretation, to the events to which the New Testament has applied them, supposing these facts to be admitted, forms a striking argument for the truth of divine revelation. I do not pretend to say, that prophecies of the double sense furnish an argument of the same force with prophecies on the same subjects which have only a single and uniform meaning; but I affirm, that when a long series of prophecies, which have this double application, is united to a similar succession of prophecies, which exclusively relate to the same events, and uniformly bear on the same points, they must add greatly to the weight of the general conclusion resulting from both. Their uniform coincidence is an argument by itself that both have proceeded from the same source, and that both are soundly interpreted.*

• Moncreiff's Evidences, p. 168.

28. There may be reasons only known to God himself for his having chosen this as one of the methods to communicate the knowledge of divine things. It might be for the purpose of according with the state of society, and with the nature of the dispensation. "It might be from the depth of things to conciliate reverence to them, and to raise the price of knowing them by the difficulty of attaining unto it: it might be to improve the understandings of men by exercise, to inflame their desire, to excite their industry, to render them modest and humble; it might be for occasion to reward an honest and diligent study of God's word; it might be to conceal some things from some persons unworthy or unfit to know them, especially from haughty and self-conceited persons."*

CHAPTER IX.

ON PROPHECY.

1. A THIRD series of prophecies regard the diffusion of the gospel and the enlargement of the Redeemer's kingdom. It was distinctly foretold that the law should be abrogated, and that a more spiritual and perfect dispensation should be introduced, adapted to the circumstances of all nations, and which should embrace both Jews and Gentiles.

2. The imperfection of the Mosaical economy rendered the gospel dispensation necessary. This imperfection did not consist in its being unsuited to the end for which it was instituted, but in its being only a part of the revelation of God's purpose of redeeming love and mercy. It was specially designed for one nation, and intended to preserve

* Barrow, vol. ii. p. 363.

Israel separate from every other people. But in the fulness of time, when the Gentiles were to be called to the same privileges with the Jews, it was necessary that the ordinances of Judaism should be superseded, and that others more simple in their nature, and adapted to the circumstances of all mankind, should be appointed in their room. The institutions of the Mosaic economy, though significant, were burdensome, and tended to engender a spirit of bondage; those of the gospel are few in number, spiritual in their nature, and accordant with that spirit of adoption which approaches unto God with filial confidence. The former were chiefly confined to one people; the latter, like the blessings of salvation, are alike designed for men of all nations. The founder of the dispensation of the law was only a servant; but the founder of the gospel dispensation is a Son. "And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken hereafter; but Christ, as a Son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end."

3. It is true the Jews were averse to believe that the ordinances of the law were to be superseded by the coming of the Messiah. They seem to have thought, that because the Mosaic ritual and institutions proceeded from God, who is in himself all-perfect and unchangeable, therefore it also must be perfect and unalterable. While they looked to its numerous ceremonies and splendid festivals, they persuaded themselves, that as they had been divinely appointed they should never terminate. The rich and glowing diction in which the prophets described the triumphs of Messiah's reign, they understood as implying not the abrogation but the extension and perpetuity of the law; and they were hence led to anticipate deliverance from every foreign yoke, and universal glory and dominion. Nor were even those of them who embraced Christianity altogether free for some time from this erroneous prepossession.