mities, in which Christ was involved, through the whole course of his life: and why may we not here call to mind that crown of thorns, which was put round his héad? 4. Abraham did not see the ram before he was called upon by God. None sees Christ by faith but by the efficacy of the gospel-call. 5. After the ram was offered, Isaac was set at liberty. for the elect, they also shall live for ever. XXX. Under the Mosaic period, no persons were more illustrious than Moses himself, and Aaron his But Moses sustains a twofold character or

Christ having died

brother. relation. 1. That of a lawgiver, whose office it was strictly to inculcate the law with its appendages. 2. Of an interpreter and teacher of the promises made to the fathers concerning a Saviour and salvation. In the former respect he is opposed to Christ, and is a type of the law. In the latter, he remarkably represents

Christ.

XXXI. To the former relation belong the following. particulars. 1. His slow speech and stammering tongue, Exod. iv. 10. signified, that the doctrine of the law is disagreeable and harsh to the sinful man (quite the reverse of the doctrine of grace, which Christ declares, whose mouth is therefore said to be most sweet, Cant. v. 16.) and can by no means justify him, but rather condemns him, that every mouth may be stopped, Rom. iii, 19. 2. That the people being forbid to draw near to the holy mount, on pain of death, and their being secluded from familiar converse with God, while he himself alone was allowed a nearer approach to the Deity, represented, that his legal ministry could by no means unite sinners to God, but was rather an evidence of that separation which is between God and man. 3. When, being actuated by a holy zeal, he broke the tables of the covenant, and stirred up the treacherous

Israelites to mutual slaughter, he actually shewed, that his ministry was the ministration of death and condemnation, 2 Cor. iii. 7, 9. 4. That his covering his face with a vail, when he was to speak to the children of Israel, was a figure, that the glorious doctrine of grace was not a little obscured among a carnal people by the covering of his ceremonies; for being wholly intent on the vail, they did not penetrate into the glory that was concealed behind it. 5. Though, among the many miracles he performed, a variety of judgments were indeed inflicted upon his enemies, by which they were destroyed, but not so much as one was raised from the dead is not this a confirmation of what we just said, that the law is a killing letter, 2 Cor. iii. 6. in contradistinction to the law of the spirit of life, which is in Jesus Christ? Rom. viii. 2. 6. and lastly, That he himself died in the wilderness, without being able to bring the people into the promised land, but was obliged to leave that work to Jesus (Joshua) the son of Nun: is not this a plain proof, that salvation is not of the law? but is only to be looked for from our Jesus, who is also the end of the law, which was published by Moses, and whom Moses recommended to the people to hear, preferably to Joshua.

XXXII. But as in that respect Moses was opposed to Christ, so in another he clearly prefigured him, both in his person and offices. As to his person. 1. The birth both of Moses and of Christ was rendered famous by the tyrannical slaughter of infants. 2. Both of them. having undergone, immediately on their birth, a cruel persecution from their enemies, did not escape but by a miracle of the singular providence of God. 3. Moses, when he might have enjoyed the pleasures of the Egyptian court, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's VOL. III.

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daughter, chusing rather to partake in the reproach of his brethren. In like manner, though Christ thought it no robbery to be equal with God, yet, vailing his majesty, he chose contempt and poverty, in order to honor and enrich his people. 4. Moses had not his equal among men, for meekness, Numb. xii. 3. So Christ most perfect meekness to his 5. When Moses came from

left an example of the people, Matth. xi. 29. conversing with God in the holy mount, he dazzled the eyes of the spectators, with a kind of radiancy issuing from his face. Christ is the brightness of the Father's glory, Heb. i. 3. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, John i. 14. And when he was transfigured before his disciples, his face did shine as the sun, Matth. xvii. 2.

III. Of a

He is cal

XXXIII. Moses sustained a threefold office. I. That of a deliverer. II. Of a mediator. prophet. In each he was a type of Christ. led LUTROTES, a deliverer (redeemer) Acts vii. 35. For, by the power of God, he delivered the people from Egyptian bondage, by destroying the first-born of Egypt, by preserving the Israelites by the blood of the paschal lamb, by enriching them with the spoils of thefr enemies, and, in fine, by drowning Pharaoh and all his host. In like manner, Christ redeems (delivers) his elect from the tyranny of the devil, overthrows all the power which opposes the liberty of his brethren, taking such a vengeance on his enemies, as contains an express charge of guilt: with his own blood he sprinkles the hearts of the elect, and screens them from the destroying angel, brings into the church the glory and honor of the nations, Rev. xxi. 26. and in a word, having spoiled principalities and powers, he makes a shew of them openly, triumphing over them, Col. ii. 15.

XXXIV. Moses himself declares, that he was a mediator, Deut. v. 5. I stood between Jehovah and you at that time and he acted as a mediator in a twofold respect. 1. As the messenger of the covenant, proposing the commandments and promises of God to the people, and bringing the words of the people back to God, Exod. xix. 7, 8. and in a solemn manner ratifying the covenant in the name of both parties, Exod. xxiv. 8. 2. As interceding for the people with God, praying, that, if divine justice could not otherwise be satisfied, himself might rather be blotted out of the book of God, and the people spared, Exod. xxxii. 32. In all these things, he represents Christ, who, in a far more excellent manner, is the Mediator between God and man: not only the Angel of the covenant, and the Messenger. of the everlasting testament, but also the Sponsor and Surety of a better covenant, than that of Moses, Heb. vii. 22. not only in the name of God undertaking with men for their salvation, and all things appertaining thereto, but also in our name, undertaking with God, to cancel, by his death, to the utmost farthing all our debts; and being admitted by God to the discharge of that office, he by his death and intercession became the procurer of an everlasting peace.

XXXV. Lastly, as Moses was the greatest prophet of God's people, whose equal no age produced, Deut. xxxiv. 10. so Christ in this also was like to Moses, Deut. xviii. 28. nay, so much greater than Moses, as a son is greater than a servant, and he who hath buildçd the house, than the house, Heb. iii. 3, 5, 6. More especially, 1. Whereas God made himself known unte the other prophets in a vision or a dream, with Moses he spoke mouth to mouth, and gave him to behold the similitude of the Lord, Numb. xii. 6, 7, 8. But who did ever more clearly see God, than his only-begotten

Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, and was therefore only qualified to declare the Father unto us? John i. 8. 2. None of the prophets were so famous for miracles and wonders as Moses. And yet Christ, by his miracles, struck every one with astonishment, and obliged even the most refractory Jews, to confess, that nothing like or even equal to them was ever seen in Israel, Matth. ix. 33. 3. Moses made great alterations in thẹ external polity or form of worship, and, at God's command, made many additions to it. Christ again, by the same will of God, having abrogated the former institutions, made the church appear in a more excellent form, and delivered those words, which God had reserved to be spoken in the last days. 4. Moses was faithful in all the house of God, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after, Heb. iii. 5. proposing all these things briefly and obscurely, which were to be spoken and taught through the whole house of God, in every period of time. But Christ with his apostles spoke those things clearly, to which Moses bore witness as to things afterwards to be spoken, John v. 46. Acts xxvi. 22.

XXXVI. To Moses let us join Aaron, whose typical relation we cannot here, however, explain without intermixing some things from the legal types. 1. He, being born before Moses, was sanctified, at God's command, to be the high priest of the people in things pertaining to God, Exod. xxviii. 1. and xxix. 1. Heb. v. 1. In like manner, Christ the first-born among many brethren, and the only-begotten Son of God, is the High Priest of our profession, Heb. iii. 1. who glorified not himself to be made an high priest: but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee, Heb. v. 5. 2. When Aaron was to be installed in his office, he was anointed with the most fragrant oil, eyen