Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

"honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy "servant taught, and in keeping of them "there is great reward." And, finally, it is the law which our blessed Lord (as we have already remarked), in his impressive sermon on the Mount, assured the disciples and Jewish multitudes, he came

66

not to destroy, but to fulfil;" to confirm, extend, and amplify; to render applicable to every case, clear to every understanding, and affecting to every heart.

The obligation to obey this most holy law is so apparent, that it requires no laboured argument to point it out. Obedience to God's commandments may be said, indeed, to form the whole of religion; for both repentance and faith are included in it. It is the only satisfactory mark of sincere piety; the only certain proof that the fear of God, and the love of "his "Christ," dwell within the heart. As such it is represented through all the scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament. "And now Israel," says Moses, with tender solicitude, "what doth the Lord thy "God require of thee, but to fear the "Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, "and to love him; and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; to keep the commandments of

66

[ocr errors]

"the Lord, and his statutes, which I com"mand thee this day for thy good." And that no doubt should exist in the minds of those who name the name of Christ," of the same practical character of the religion which they profess; the keeping of Christ's commandments, or the evidence of a pure, holy, and virtuous life, is expressly declared to be the proper "outward "and visible sign" of an inward heartfelt love for the Redeemer of souls. "He that "hath my commandments, and keepeth "them, he it is that loveth me;" but "he that loveth me not, keepeth not my "sayings."

As the duty and necessity of religious obedience are thus evident and obligatory under both dispensations, the Mosaical and the Christian, so the danger and consequences of disobedience are even more terrible to the professors of the gospel than they were to the Jews of old; inasmuch as Christians live under a brighter revelation of God's will, have larger promises of spiritual assistance, and clearer prospects of future reward, than pertained to the followers of Moses. As our advantages, therefore, are far greater than theirs, the penalty of abusing them must be proportionate to their increased magnitude and

[ocr errors]

value; and such is the unequivocal declaration of the Word of God; for, says the Apostle Paul, "if we sin wilfully, after we "have received the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. "He that despised Moses' law died without "mercy, under two or three witnesses. "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose

66

66

&

ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath "trodden under foot the Son of God; and "hath counted the blood of the covenant, "wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace."

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

DISCOURSE XII.

Subject. THE BRAZEN SERPENT, A TYPE OF CHRIST.

THE TYPES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. THE OCCASION OF THE ELEVATION OF THE BRAZEN SERPENT. THE NATURE AND CHARACTER OF HUMAN LIFE. THE DISEASE OF SIN UNIVERSAL AMONG MANKIND: HEALED BY THE CROSS OF CHRIST. MORAL INFERENCES.

NUMBERS Xxi. 8.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole, and it shall come pass that every one that is bitten, whsn he looketh upon it shall live.

to

MONG the many and various proofs

of the truth of the Holy Scriptures; that the books of the Old and New Testament were written by men inspired by God; that all their recitals are unquestionable facts; that they form one great scheme of

revealed religion, and are connected with, and dependent upon, each other, by an union as intimate as that of soul and body; one clear and remarkable evidence of all this is found in the numerous types which were ordained under the Mosaical dispensation, as emblems or representations of what would take place, or be realized, in the history, life, and death of Jesus Christ, under the covenant of grace.

Thus, for instance, the ordinance of sacrifices obviously shadowed out the great atonement, which, in "the fulness of time,' was to be offered up for the sins of all mankind. The slaying of the Paschal Lamb aptly represented the meritorious and efficacious death of "the lamb slain from the "foundation of the world;" and the offices of the Jewish High Priest, and the different services of the Temple, prefigured (as is fully shewn in St. Paul's epistle to the He brews) circumstances and events which were ordained to take place, and which actually occurred, during the ministration upon earth of the Redeemer of mankind.

There is no type in the Old Testament, however, more intelligible in its meaning, or more striking in its nature, than that which is presented to our contemplation in the text, the elevation of the Brazen

[ocr errors]
« AnteriorContinuar »