observation to the same effect, though still more particular, was made by Philip, another of our Saviour's disciples; who on finding Nathaniel, saith unto him, "We have found Him, of whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth." John i. 45.

The Law of Moses then had its appropriate signification. And it ought to have been understood; because it was written in that language, to which the world had been long accustomed; which was in fact as old as Adam; that language of signs, shadows, and figures, of visible things, of which God had been pleased to make use, in the communication of the divine scheme of Redemption to man. For Sacrifice, as the Type of the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, had been in use from the beginning: and there was scarce a ceremony in the Mosaic Ritual, which is not to be traced to an higher origin. And although, as it was to be expected, when we consider the length of time from Adam to Moses, corruption and abuse might have rendered some additions -necessary to be made to the original established

blished Ritual of Religion; still the object of every appointed Ritual, whether in a more simple or complicated state, being to preserve a representative memorial of that covenanted Redemption, to which fallen man was to look for Salvation; it follows, that the Service of the Church was for sum and substance the same from Adam to Christ. And if the Service of the Church from Adam to Christ was the same, the Doctrine of it cannot be different; for the Service comprehended the Doctrine, and was designed to preserve it. Hence it is, that with reference to his Religion it may be said, "Jesus Christ, is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."

In the language of the seventh Article of our Church; "The Old Testament is not contrary to the New: for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and man. Wherefore they are not to be heard which feign, that the Old Fathers did look only for transitory promises."That promise which related to eternal life through the blood of a Redeemer

deemer, the performance of which Adam, Abraham, and Moses, in their Sacrifices pre-figured, we Christians in the Sacrifice of our Altar commemorate, as having been actually accomplished on the Cross. The sacrifices before and since the coming of Christ differ in their kind, but agree in the object to which they refer. In both cases the eye of faith brings to sight, what the eye of sense does not discern.

"To

The Jewish nation then, if regarded according to the important station, which they were destined to fill in the œconomy of Divine Grace, may be considered as a light set up for general illumination. them, says the Apostle, were committed the oracles of God." Rom. iii. 2. And they were committed to them for this gracious purpose; that, through the medium of that Dispensation, of which they were the appointed conductors, the light of divine truth being by degrees carried forth into the world, mankind might become prepared for the reception of that Sun of Righteousness, who was in the fulness of time to shine forth. "The Law (says one of the Old Fathers,) was not for the Jews only,

nor

nor were the Prophets sent for them alone; but this nation was the sacred school of the whole world, from whence they were to fetch the knowledge of God, and the way of spiritual living."-And to knowledge originally derived from this sacred fountain, but grossly perverted by the devil, are all the corruptions of idolatry, which, according to the imaginations of mankind at different times, have disgraced. the world, to be traced up.

The Law delivered to the Jews contained the rudiments of the Gospel, and was designed to make them, and all who communicated with them, thorough proficients in the great doctrine of vicarious sacrifice for sin, and the necessity there was for man's looking beyond himself for a meritorious title to salvation. For which reason the Jew became the proper channel of communication, through which the full Revelation of the Gospel should pass to the Gentile. Because, being possessed, in the figurative service of the law, of the shadow of the good things to come: he was thereby qualified to judge of the resemblance which the reality bore to it.

Long

Long accustomed to the emblematic representation of the great doctrine of Atonement in the service of the Temple, he was not only qualified to judge of the nature of the Messiah's office, as the great HighPriest of our salvation, but to ascertain the reality of his character and pretensions, by an appeal to those Records, of which he was the appointed Guardian. For this reason it probably was, that the Gospel went forth first from Jerusalem, as from the seat of the divine oracles, that it might be proclaimed with authority and irresistible evidence among the rest of the nations It being the design of divine wisdom, that the Jew should be, as it were, the connecting medium between the Law and the Gospel; whose office it was to verify the one, by an appeal to the other, and thus establish the conviction of the Gentile on the uniform consistency of the divine plan. The Jew had in his possession the evidence, by which his own faith ought to have been established, and by which the conversion of the Gentile was to be effected. A consideration which accounts for the frequent appeals made both by our Saviour and his Apostles,