As law simply, then, the Mosaic system was the complete and formal trial of man as man, all possible assistance being given him, and every motive, whether of self-interest or of gratitude to God, being brought to bear on him, the necessity of faith almost, as it might seem, set aside by repeated manifestations of Jehovah's presence and power, such as must force conviction upon all.
The issue of the trial, as foreseen and designed of God, was to bring out the perfect hopelessness of man's condition, as ungodly, and without strength, unable to stand before Him for a moment. But then, the truth of his helplessness exposed, the mercy of God could not permit his being left there, without the assurance of effectual help provided for him. In this way another element than that of law entered into the law, and the tabernacle and temple services, taking up the principles of circumcision and of sacrifice, of older date than law, incorporated there in a ritual of most striking character, which spread before the eye, opened to take it in, lessons of spiritual wisdom, which in our day we turn back to read with deeper interest and delight the more we know of them.
The language of type and parable God had used from the beginning. As yet He could not speak plainly of what, these bear abundant witness to, ever filled His heart. Unbelief in man had dammed back the living stream of divine goodness, which was gathering behind the barrier all the while for its overflow. In the meanwhile, the Psalms-the very heart of the Old Testament-declare what faith could already realize of the blessedness of "the man whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered." Faith tasted and declared, as the apostle could take up such words afterward, to show, not the blessedness of keeping law, but of divine forgiveness. "It shall be forgiven him" was indeed said with perfect plainness, in connection with that shedding of blood for man, which testified at once of his utter failure, and of resource in God for his extremest need. It was not, and could not be, perfect peace or justification that could yet be preached or known, but a "forbearance," of which none could predict the limits. Still, faith had here its argument, and, in fact, found ever its fullest confidence sustained.
Very striking it is, when once this dealing of God with faith is seen, how the very burdensomeness of the rigid ceremonial changes its character, and becomes only the urgency of an appeal to the conscience, which, if entertained, would open the way to the knowledge of the blessedness of which the psalmist speaks. These continual sacrifices, if they did indeed, as the apostle urges, by their frequent repetition proclaim their own insufficiency, nevertheless, by the very fact, became continual preachers, in the most personal way, to the men of Israel, of their ruin, and of its sole remedy, and how the constant shedding of blood would keep them in mind of that divine commentary: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." (Lev. 17:1111For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11).)
How striking, too, that circumcision, which was clearly before the law, was expressly the only way by which even the Israelite born could claim Jehovah as his covenant God, or keep the memorial feast of national redemption! For, as the apostle says, it was "the seal of the righteousness of faith," not law-keeping, as the covenant of which it virt,s the token was " of promise"-the promise of an " Almighty God," when in Abraham, almost a hundred years old, all natural hope was dead forever. To walk before that Omnipotent God in confessed impotence, trusting and proving His power, was that to which he was called. As yet there was no law to saddle that with conditions; and in memory of this, in token of its abiding significance, the Gentile "stranger" could still ba circumcised, with all his males, and keep the passover as an Israelite born.
How tender, too, the goodness which had provided that whoever of Abraham's seed should turn to the history of his forefather after the flesh, should find written there, and of this very depositary of all the promises, such plain, unambiguous words of divine testimony as these: " He believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness." Of no other was this in the same way written. What hand inscribed it there, just when it should speak most plainly, and to those most in need Just where, on the incoming of Christianity, I should be ready with its unmistakable testimony to the central principle of Christianity itself. Such is the prophetic character of the inspired word. The same presaging Spirit who dictated to Peter-in men's thoughts the first authority in the church-those two doctrines which are the death-blow of ritualism, new birth through the word of the gospel, and the common priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 1:23-25;2, 5-923Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 24For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. (1 Peter 1:23‑25)), recorded by Moses, this testimony as to Abraham. Blessed be God for His infinitely precious word!
It was in connection with law that all the books of the Old Testament were given, and Israel, as is plain, were they to whom all was committed. It seems, therefore, here the place to speak briefly of their general character, as affected by this. There are certain things, at least, that one may indicate as of special importance, in view of many things round us at the present time.
In the first place, it was not yet the time for that " plainness of speech" which, as the apostle says, belongs to Christianity. This we have already seen, but it is not superfluous to insist on it still further. The veil between man and God necessitated a veiled speech also-not, indeed, altogether impenetrable to faith, but requiring, in the words of Solomon, "to understand proverb and strange speech, the words of the wise, and their dark sayings." Even as to man himself, while his trial was yet going on, there could not be the full discovery of his condition. We have not yet the New Testament doctrine of " the flesh," nor of new birth, although there was that which should have prepared an Israelitish teacher for the understanding of it when announced. Election was only yet national, not individual, and therefore to privilege only, not eternal life. Adoption, too, was national: the true children of God could not yet claim or know their place as such. No cry of " Abba, Father," was, or could be, raised. The heirs differed not as yet from servants, being under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the Father. (Gal. 4) As to all these things, there were preparatory utterances, and all the more as the ruin of man came out, therefore, in those prophetical books which fittingly closed the canon of the Old Testament.
Even the types had in them the character which the apostle ascribes to the law: " having a shadow of good things to come, but not the very image of the things." The unrent veil, the repetition of the sacrifices, the successional priesthood, as he points out, had all this character. They were the necessary witnesses that the " law made nothing perfect," that under it " the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest." Of these was the intermediate priesthood of Aaron's sons, which was the provision for a people unable themselves to draw near to God; which, with all else, the Judaizing ritualism of the day copies, and maintains as christian. The apostle's answer to it is, "By one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before.... Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he bath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having an High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith." (Heb. 10:14-2214For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. 19Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21And having an high priest over the house of God; 22Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:14‑22).) Sin put away, and distance from God removed, ritualism, in all its forms, becomes an impossibility.
In the second place, as the law dealt with man here and now, and did not relegate the issue of its own trial to another time and place, where its verdict could not be known by men in this life-the earth is that upon which man's attention is fixed, and that whether for judgment or reward. There are hints here also of the fuller truths which the New Testament unfolds; but manifestly there is no promise of heaven to the keeper of the law, nor even threat of hell-that is, of the lake of fire-to the transgressors of it. Judgment there is, and eternal judgment, but death is rather the stroke of it, the horror of this shadowing the eternity beyond. Job speaks of resurrection, and the prophets also, though in them it is only applied figuratively to national restoration; yet this shows they held it as admitted truth. Outside of the Old Testament, we learn from the Epistle to the Hebrews that the patriarchs expected " a better country, that is, a heavenly;" but we should not know it from Genesis. Faith penetrated, in some measure, it is clear, the " dark sayings," and found all not dark. A recognized body of truth was received by the Pharisees, which embraced not only resurrection for the just, but of the unjust also, and spoke, not merely of hades, but of gehenna also, the true " hell." This only makes more remarkable the constant style even of the prophets. The confounding of judgments upon the living, by which the earth will be rid of its destroyers, and prepared for blessing, with the judgment of the dead at the " great white throne," is one of the errors under which annihilationism shelters itself most securely.
On the other hand, this earthly blessing, still further confused by Israel being (as commonly) interpreted to mean the church, has been by current " adventism" made to take the place of the true Christian expectation of an inheritance in heaven. And this, too, has linked itself with annihilationism in its extremest and most materialistic forms. We must keep the standpoints of the Old and New Testaments-of Israel and the church, earthly and heavenly-clear in our minds, and there is no difficulty. "My kinsman according to the flesh," says the apostle, " to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises." (Rom. 9:3,43For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: 4Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; (Romans 9:3‑4).) All of these for them earthly blessings. Christians are " blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Eph. 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3).)
If this should seem at all to take the Old Testament away from us who belong to another dispensation, we must remember two things: first, that if it has not so directly to do with us, it has, most assuredly, with Christ no less on that account. His glories run through the whole; history, psalm, and prophecy are full of Him. But what reveals Him is ever of truest blessing for the soul. Oh to be simpler in taking in all this, in which the Father gives us communion with His own thoughts of His Son!
And then, when we look at the typical teaching, now fully for the first time disclosed, when even the things that happened to the favored nation, and are recorded in their history, "happened to them for types," we find what is in the fullest way ours-" written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come." (1 Cor. 10:1111Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (1 Corinthians 10:11).) How wonderful this! and how sad to think, on the one hand, of the disuse, on the other, of the reckless abuse, of that precious teaching!
We have now to look at the history of the age of law.
F. W. G.
" SCRIPTURE: ITS INSPIRATON AND AUTHORITY."
A PAMPHLET, bearing the above title, has recently been sent us, and the important subject it takes up is so simply and forcibly dealt with, that we should like to bring it before the notice of others, with the recommendation that they should obtain it, as we are sure they will peruse it with real profit and pleasure. It is a gracious and pointed answer to a recent apologist for holy scripture, and one, too, put forward as a champion of Christianity against infidelity.
The lectures on which the writer remarks were delivered with the purpose of conciliating the avowed enemies of revealed religion, and this really by surrendering the integrity of scripture, in order to reconcile its teachings with the assumptions of science, " falsely so called."
It is one of the many attempts of the present age to yoke the Bible and science together as joint-revealers of God; but the services of the one are to be purchased by a large surrender of what the other alone claims to be the authority for. Our lecturer tells us that the account of the " creation," " the fall of man," and the " deluge," are not 'necessarily to be believed; and that the Bible contains " the word of God," but not the " words of God." Moreover, that the writers of the New Testament claimed weight for their writings, " on account of their accuracy as eye-witnesses," and not because they were the divinely inspired channels of what they record.
" These lectures," the writer justly remarks in his Preface, " appear like dismantling and undermining the fortifications of Christianity, and this by one of its professed friends, in order to conciliate its enemies, who are only too ready to take advantage of such a mistake; whilst weak minds are disturbed, and the wavering induced to conclude, seeing the main prop and stay of Christianity surrendered, that it cannot be maintained in its integrity against all attacks. The warning, ne crede equidem; given to the Trojans, when, unconscious of their danger, they introduced into the citadel the Grecian horse, He'd with armed foes, may well be repeated here. The object of these pages is to show how dangerous in their nature, and how futile and unwarrantable are these concessions to the infidel, and thus Christians may be on their guard against receiving them, as well as that they may understand how firm is the foundation which the word of God affords as the basis of faith."
Every true believer in the Lord Jesus must feel the justice of these remarks, and agree with him, when he says, in taking. up the lecturer's ground-that we have in the Bible " the word of God," but not " the words of God"-that, "if we have not what comes directly and immediately from God, we have no divine warrant for faith, nor is there guilt in the rejection of such a divine testimony. Faith is the reception of what God says, because He says it: He that hath received his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is true, for he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God. (John 3:33,3433He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. 34For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. (John 3:33‑34).) He that is of God, heareth God's words.. (John 8:4747He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. (John 8:47).) He that rejecteth me, and heareth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. (John 12:4848He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. (John 12:48).) God's words are to have their weight in every soul; if received in faith, they bring salvation and eternal life (John 6:68,6968Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. (John 6:68‑69)); if rejected, it is at the peril of the rejecter, for how could God speak or address Himself to man, with evidence enough that He has done so, and the treatment of His word be matter of indifference?"
These are sober and seasonable words, and we again commend this pamphlet to our readers. C. w.