were pronounced and were written down; and they were blotted out by that same water which caused the curse. So the curse pronounced against Adam, was blotted out by the seed of the woman, which was promised before that curse was pronounced. Christ, our " high priest," has "blotted out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us." By Adam "sin entered into the world, and death by sin1;" but GOD "condemned sin in the flesh m" by the sacrifice of Christ, the second Adam", who was "made of a woman"," "in the likeness of sinful flesh"." As, then, " holy water in an earthen vessel," mingled with dust, "caused the curse curse" and blotted out the curses, so "by man came death"," and " by man came also the resurrection from the dead." The last Adam has blotted out the curses which the first Adam entailed upon mankind: "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." The trial of jealousy appears, then, to have had a veiled reference to the Adamite and Christian covenants. "Ye shall be holy men unto me, neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field, ye shall cast it to dogs." By beasts are Gen. iii. 15 – 19. Hebr. passim. k Coloss. ii. 14. Rom. v. 12. m Rom. viii. 3. 1 Cor. xv. 45. " Gal. iv. 4. p 1 Cor. xv. 21. q 1 Cor. xv. 22. Exod. xxii. 31. Lev. xxii. 8. Ezek. xliv. 31. 66 figuratively denoted in Scripture evil passions and propensities, temptations of Satan, who is himself styled "more subtle than any beast of the fields;" Christ " was tempted of Satan, and was with the wild beasts." Man, distracted by these evil passions", is represented by "flesh torn of beasts." Such flesh was to be cast to dogs. Beware," says St. Paul, "of dogs, beware of evil-workers "." "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs'." David, speaking in the name of Christ, says, "Dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me";"" deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog." Without the city of the heavenly Jerusalem "are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." The casting to dogs all flesh that was torn of beasts in the field, represented, then, the exclusion of all impure and wicked persons from the holy city of GOD b. "If thou wilt build me an altar of stone, thou shalt not make it of hewn stones, for, if thou lift thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it; neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine • Gen. iii. 1. Mark, i. 13. u See Rom. viii. 23. W Philip. iii. 2. y Psalm xxii. 16. z Psalm xxii. 20. a Rev. xxii. 15. b Rev. xxii. 19. altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereons." The altar of stone upon which they were to rest their sacrifice, was to be built "of whole stones"," in representation (as it would seem) of that Rock whence they themselves were hewni. They were not to lift a tool upon it, for, by doing so, they would pollute it; since the altar, if made of hewn stones, would no longer be a figure of that Rock, but it would be a figure of their own works; and a sacrifice which rested on their own works for acceptance, would be rejected, as the offering of Cain had been. They were not to " go up by steps" unto the altar. If they endeavoured to ascend toward heaven by any steps of their own making, by any structure which they themselves had made, they would expose their spiritual nakedness; their presumption would be like that of the builders of Babel, and, like the attempt of this latter people, their attempt to reach unto heaven would fail. Thus it appears, that the religious rites and ceremonies appointed by the Mosaic institutes, as well as every thing connected with the administration of those observances, had a reference to, and were figures of, Christ and his covenant. 8 Exod. xx. 25, 26. h Deut. xxvii. 5, 6. Joshua, viii. 31. i Isaiah, li. 1. * See Isaiah, ix. 9, 10. When the Israelites came to the Red Sea, the Lord "made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided, and the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground m;" thus "the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians";" for He "overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea." Pharaoh and his host were destroyed by the waters of the Red Sea, and thus the Lord saved Israel. The Israelites were thus baptized, for their passage through these waters was a figure of baptism; for, as they, by passing through these waters, were made free from bondage, their oppressor being destroyed by the waters; so are we saved by the waters of baptism, by "the washing of regeneration," whereby the body of sin is destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin', being made free from the yoke of bondage. Pharaoh represented the ruler of the spiritual Egypt *. Thus the children of Israel were freed from bondage; they entered the wilderness; and they looked forward to the possession of a fertile country in which their common ancestor had Exod. xiv. 22, 23. n Exod. xiv. 30. • Exod. xiv. 27. P 1 Cor. x. 1. Titus, iii. 5. Eph. v. 26. 1 Peter, iii. 21. Rom. vi. 6. • Gal. v. 1. been a resident. Just such is the state of the Christian pilgrim; he has been freed from the bondage of Adam's covenant; he has passed through the saving waters of baptism; he is a stranger in the wilderness of this world; and he looks forward to an entrance into a place so inconceivably fertile in blessings, that " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which GOD hath prepared for them that love him ";" he travels toward that "paradise of GOD"," of which the "paradise" in which his ancestor Adam resided, appears to have been a figurative representation *. Throughout the journeyings of the Israelites, "the Lord went before them in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to go by day and nighty." Christ," the angel of GOD"," went before them. The same Lord is gone before us, to show us the way, to bring us to GOD", that where He is, there we may be also. He giveth He giveth" light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peacef;" "a light" " 1 Cor. ii. 9. w Rev. ii. 7. * See PART I. y Exod. xiii. 21, 22. z Exod. xiv. 19. a See Psalm xcix. 7, 8. b 1 Peter, iii. 22. c John, xiv. 6. d 1 Peter, iii. 18. • John, xiv. 3. 66 Luke, i. 79. Isaiah, ix. 2. |