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CHAPTER SECOND.

THE NATURE, USE, AND DESIGN OF TYPES CONSIDERD WITH AN ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO WHAT ARE COMMONLY DESIGNATED RITUAL TYPES, OR THE SYMBOLICAL INSTITUTIONS OF OLD TESTAMENT WORSHIP.

IN entering on the formal investigation of this subject, we shall not attempt, what we have already found to prove so fruitless in the hands of another, to begin with a precise definition of a type. The points that would require to be embraced by it are of too complex and varied a character to admit of being distinctly expressed in a brief enunciation. But there are two principal ideas more or less clearly indicated in the definitions commonly adopted, which unfold what is of primary moment, and comprise all that is necessary as a foundation for farther inquiry. Understanding the word type in the theological sense-for as employed in Scripture the original word is undoubtedly used with greater latitude1-it is admitted by general consent, first, that in the character, action, or institution, which is denominated the type, there must be a resemblance in form or spirit to what answers to it under the Gospel; and secondly, that it must not be any character, action, or institution, occurring in Old Testament Scripture, but such only as had their ordination of God, and were designed by Him to foreshadow and prepare for the better things of the Gospel. For, as Bishop Marsh has justly remarked, "to constitute one thing the type of another, something more is wanted than mere resemblance. The former must not

1 Heb. viii. 5; Phil. iii. 17; 1 Thes. i. 7; 1 Pet. v. 3; Rom. vi 17. In these passages rúros, type, very nearly corresponds in meaning to our words model, pattern, or exemplar generally. And this is what is usually called the Scriptural, as opposed to the theological sense of the word. It might more properly, perhaps, be called the general as distinguished from the more specific theological meaning, which, if not actually expressed, is sometimes, at least in substance, indicated in Scripture, as at Rom. v. 14; Heb. ix. 24; 1 Pet. iii. 21.

only resemble the latter, but must have been designed to resemble the latter. It must have been so designed in its original instititution. It must have been designed as something preparatory to the latter. The type as well as the antitype must have been preordained; and they must have been pre-ordained as constituent parts of the same general scheme of divine Providence. It is this previous design and this pre-ordained connection [together, of course, with the resemblance], which constitute the relation of type and antitype". We insert, together with the resemblance; for, while stress is justly laid on the previous design and pre-ordained connection, the resemblance also forms an indispensable element in this very connection, and is, in fact, the point that involves the more peculiar difficulties belonging to the subject, and calls for the closest investigation.

I. We begin, therefore, with the other point-the previous design and pre-ordained connection necessarily entering into the relation between type and antitype. A relation so formed, and subsisting to any extent between Old and New Testament things, evidently pre-supposes and implies two important facts. It implies, first, that the realities of the Gospel, which constitute the antitypes, are the ultimate objects which were contemplated by the mind of God, when planning the economy of his successive dispensations. And it implies, secondly, that to prepare the way for the introduction of these ultimate objects, he placed the Church under a course of training, which included instruction by types, or designed and fitting resemblances of what was to come. Both of these facts are so distinctly stated in Scripture, and, indeed, so generally admitted, that it will be unnecessary to do more than present a brief outline of the proof on which they rest.

1. In regard to the first of the two facts, we find the designation of "the ends of the world" applied in Scripture to the Gospel-age ; and that not so much in respect to its posteriority in point of time, as to its comparative maturity in regard to the things of salvation-the higher and better things having now come, which had hitherto appeared only in prospect or existed but

1 Marsh's Lectures, p. 371.

2 1 Cor. x. 11; Heb. xi. 40.

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in embryo. On the same account the Gospel dispensation is called "the dispensation of the fulness of times;"1 indicating, that with it alone the great objects of faith and hope, which the Church was from the first destined to possess, were properly brought within her reach. Only with the entrance also of this dispensation does the great mystery of God, in connection with man's salvation, come to be disclosed, and the light of a new and more glorious era at last breaks upon the Church. "The dayspring from the height," in the expressive language of Zacharias, then appeared, and made manifest what had previously been wrapt in comparative obscurity, what had not even been distinctly conceived, far less satisfactorily enjoyed. Here, therefore, in the sublime discoveries and abundant consolations of the Gospel, is the reality, in its depth and fulness, while, in the earlier endowments and institutions of the Church, there was no more than a shadowy exhibition and a partial experience; and as a necessary consequence, the most eminent in spiritual light and privilege before, were still decidedly inferior even to the less distinguished members of the Messiah's kingdom. In a word, the blessed Redeemer, whom the Gospel reveals, is Himself the beginning and the end of the scheme of God's dispensations; in Him is found alike the centre of Heaven's plan, and the one foundation of human confidence and hope. So that before his coming into the world, all things of necessity pointed toward him; types and prophecies bore testimony to the things that concerned his work and kingdom; the children of blessing were blessed in anticipation of his looked for redemption; and with his coming, the

1 Eph. i. 10.

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2 Luke i. 78; 1 John ii. 8; Rom. xvi. 25, 26; Col. i. 27; 1 Cor. ii. 7, 10. 3 Col. ii. 17; Heb. viii. 5.

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4 Matth. xi. 11, where it is said respecting John the Baptist, "notwithstanding he that is least (ô μingóragos) in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than he." The older English versions retained the comparative, and rendered " he that is less in the kingdom of heaven"-(Wickliffe, Tyndale, Cranmer, the Geneva); and so also Winer Greek Gr. 8 36, 3, "he who occupies some lower place in the kingdom of heaven." Lightfoot, Hengstenberg, and many others approve of this milder sense, as it may be called; but Alford in his recent commentary adheres still to the stronger, "the least ;" and so does Stier in his Reden Jesu, who, in illustrating the thought, goes so far as to say, a mere child that knows the catechism, and can say the Lord's prayer, both knows and has more than the Old Testament can give, and so far stands higher and nearer to God than John the Baptist." One cannot but feel that this is putting something like a strain on our Lord's declaration.

grand reality itself came, and the higher purposes of Heaven entered on their fulfilment.1

2. The other fact pre-supposed and implied in the relation between type and antitype, namely, that God subjected the Church to a course of preparatory training, including instruction by types, before he introduced the realities of his final dispensation, is written with equal distinctness in the page of inspiration. It is scarcely possible, indeed, to dissociate even in idea the one fact from the other; for, without such a course of preparation being perpetually in progress, the long delay which took place in the introduction of the Messiah's kingdom would be quite inexplicable. Accordingly, the Church of the Old Testament is constantly represented as having been in a state of comparative childhood, supplied only with such means of instruction, and subjected to such methods of discipline as were suited to so imperfect and provisional a period of her being. Her law, in its higher aim and object, was a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ (Gal. iii. 24); and every thing in her condition-what it wanted, as well as what it possessed, what was done for her, and also what remained undone concurred in pointing the way to Him, who was to come with the better promises and the perfected salvation (Heb. vii. viii. ix.) Such is the plain import of a great many Scriptures bearing on the subject.

It is to be noted, however, in regard to this course of preparation, continued through so many ages, that every thing in the mode of instruction and discipline employed ought not to be regarded as employed simply for the sake of those who lived during its continuance. It was, no doubt, primarily introduced on their account, and must have been wisely adapted to their circumstances, as under preparation for better things to come. But, at the same time, it must also, like the early training of a well educated youth, have been fitted to tell with beneficial effect on the spiritual life of the Church in her more advanced state of existence, after she had actually attained to those better things themselves. The man of mature age, when pursuing his way amid the perplexing cares and busy avocations of life, finds himself continually indebted to the lessons he was taught and the

1 Rev. i. 8; Luke ii. 25; Acts x. 43, iv. 12; Rom. iii. 25; 1 Pet. i. 10-12, 20.

skill he has acquired during the period of his early culture. And, in like manner, it was undoubtedly God's intention that his method of procedure toward the Church in her state of minority, not only should minister what was needed for her immediate instruction and improvement, but should also furnish materials of edification and comfort for believers to the end of time. If the earlier could not be made perfect without the things belonging to the later Church (Heb. xi. 40), so neither, on the other hand, can the later profitably or even safely dispense with the advantage she may derive from the more simple and rudimentary things that belonged to the earlier. The Church, considered as God's nursery for training souls to a meetness for immortal life and blessedness, is substantially the same through all periods of her existence; and the things which were appointed for the behoof of her members in one age, had in them also something of lasting benefit for those on whom the ends of the world are come (1 Cor. x. 6, 11.)

It is farther to be noted, that in this work of preparation for the more perfect future, arrangements of a typical kind, being of a somewhat recondite nature, necessarily occupied a relative and subsidiary, rather than the primary and most essential place. The church enjoyed from the first the benefit of direct and explicit instruction, imparted either immediately by the hand of God, or through the instrumentality of his accredited messengers, From this source she always derived her knowledge of the more fundamental truths of religion, and also her more definite expectations of the better things to come. The fact is of importance, both as determining the proper place of typical acts and institutions, and as indicating a kind of extraneous and qualifying element, that must not be overlooked in judging of the condition of believers under them. Yet they were not, on that account, rendered less valuable or necessary as constituent parts of a preparatory dispensation. For, it was through them, as temporary expedients, and by virtue of the resemblances they possessed to the higher things in prospect, that the realities of Christ's kingdom obtained a kind of present realization to the eye of faith. What, then, was the nature of these resemblances? Wherein precisely did the similarity which formed more especially the