to rule the day and the other to rule the night, is interpreted, by the highest authority of the Roman church,' to signify the superiority of the pontifical authority to that of any earthly sovereign."

The promise made to David, "I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever,"* is adduced to predict the endless duration of the papal power, of which David, and even Christ, is assumed to be the type. The sacerdotal tribe of Levi is asserted to be the figure of the Roman hierarchy. And when Moses, in allusion to their impartial judgement upon the idolatrous Israelites, pronounces a prophetic blessing upon Levi, "who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him, neither did he acknowledge his brethren," he is considered as authorizing the monastic vow made by children even without their parents' consent. And the unlimited papal supremacy, in its several branches, is declared to be pre

+ Pope Innocent III. Fecit Deus duo magna luminaria, id est, duas dignitates instituit, quæ sunt, Pontificalis autoritas, et regalis majestas: sed illa quæ præest diebus, id est, spiritualibus, major est alterâ quæ noctibus, id est, carnalibus: ut quanta est inter solem et lunam, tanta inter pontifices et reges differentia cognoscatur.

" See Glassius Philolog. Sacra, Lib. II. Part 1. Tract II. Sect. 3. Art. VI. and Sect. 4. Art. V. Luther on Gen, ix.Turrecremata-Summa de ecclesia, Lib. I. Cap. xc.

* 2 Sam. vii. 13.

y Deut. xxxiii. 9.

figured in the universal dominion which has been given to man by his Creator, over the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea."

Other Christian interpreters have not altogether escaped similar errors.

b.

с

The lion which met Samson in the way, has been fancifully set forth as a type of St. Paul. When Christ calls his disciples from their nets, and promises to make them fishers of men, he has been supposed, without any scriptural authority, to represent the ordinary occupations in which they had been engaged, as designedly and minutely figurative of their future exertions and success. And the avowed existence of types, in some of the events of the Old Testament, has induced visionary minds to regard the whole history of the Jews as a perpetual, uninterrupted representation of the history of Christ and his Church and to search the Scriptures in order to discover traces of those revolutions which have happened, and will continue to happen to the end of time.“

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Antoninus, Bishop of Florence, on Psalm viii. 7. Deus omnia subjecit pedibus ejus, id est, pontificis Romani: oves, id est Christianos, et boves, id est, Judæos et hæreticos, pecora campi, id est paganos: pisces maris, id est, animas in purgatorio. a Judges xiv. 5.

b Vitringa Observat. Sacræ, Vol. II.

с

e Lampe Prolegomena ad Evang. Joh.

d Joh. Cocceius: see Mosheim, Cent. XVII. Sect. 2. Part. II.

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*

The mention of such dreams, put forth as interpretations of the word of truth, is a sufficient refutation of them. But their existence shews with what caution the Holy Scriptures should be approached: and how careful we should be not to go beyond the written word of God to say less or more.

The imaginations of man are vain and unsubstantial: the words, which God has spoken unto us, they are spirit and they are life.

IV. But even if we confine our attention to the words of Scripture, it is necessary that we do not attribute more than its just weight to any particular branch of sacred interpretation.

The plain facts, the plain prophecies, the plain doctrines of Scripture, are in themselves sufficient to establish the inspiration, and, therefore, the authority of the sacred volume. The explication of the less obvious modes of proof, however important, must be considered as subordinate to these.

The fundamental articles of our faith, and the rules for the regulation of our lives, are revealed with the greatest plainness of speech. They are comprized in a few simple words, to understand which requires nothing but the ordinary perception of right and wrong.

John vi. 63.

The innocence of our first parents, created in the image of God; their fall, and its grievous consequences, the redemption of man by the death of Christ, the means of grace afforded him here, by the influence of the Spirit of truth; and the hopes of glory hereafter, through faith in the sacrifice of his Redeemer-the duties, which man is commanded to fulfil, as proofs of the inward influence of religion in his heart to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with his God-to be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love, to do to all men as we would they should do to us," to provide things honest in the sight of all men, and, if possible, to live peaceably with them, to visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world*-doctrines and precepts such as these, are inscribed in the sacred volume with such legible characters, that he may run that readeth them.'

i

That which is thus plainly revealed is to be made the standard, to which we must, if possible, refer, in all doubtful interpretation of the more obscure parts of Scripture: and no figurative sense must ever be made to con

f Micah vi. 8.

h Matt. vii. 12. Luke vi. 31. * James i. 27.

8 Rom. xii. 10.

i Rom. xii. 17, 18.

1 Hab. ii. 2.

1

tradict the plain literal sense of any other

portion of Holy Writ.

This caution, which is necessary in the in terpretation of all the figurative and allegorical parts of Scripture, must be carefully borne in mind in examining the types.

The observations into which we have been led will also suggest other rules of typical interpretation.

The error of those who suffer their imaginations to suppose the existence of types where they are not, should warn us that no action must be selected as typical of another, unless it be distinctly declared, or plainly intimated in some part of Scripture, to possess that cha

racter.

Again, the relation between an historical type and its completion, must be considered as a general relation, which does not necessarily extend to every minute particular. Similarity by no means implies equality. In the typical action, there may be many circumstances which have no place in the antitype: especially when men, subject to passion and often slaves of sin, were, in some parts of their lives, made the figures of the spotless Son of God.

In the typical action there may also be less than there is in the antitype. For the sha